Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

A food writer who has lied about being the perfect housewife must try to cover her deception when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her home for a traditional family Christmas.

Director:

Peter Godfrey

Writers:

Lionel Houser (screenplay), Adele Comandini (screenplay) (as Adele Commandini)

Stars:

Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Barbara Stanwyck	...	Elizabeth Lane
Dennis Morgan	...	Jefferson Jones
Sydney Greenstreet	...	Alexander Yardley
Reginald Gardiner	...	John Sloan
S.Z. Sakall	...	Felix Bassenak
Robert Shayne	...	Dudley Beecham
Una O'Connor	...	Norah
Frank Jenks	...	Sinkewicz
Joyce Compton	...	Mary Lee
Dick Elliott	...	Judge Crowthers

Storyline

Journalist Elizabeth Lane is one of the country's most famous food writers. In her columns, she describes herself as a hard working farm woman, taking care of her children and being an excellent cook. But this is all lies. In reality she is an unmarried New Yorker who can't even boil an egg. The recipes come from her good friend Felix. The owner of the magazine she works for has decided that a heroic sailor will spend his Christmas on *her* farm. Miss Lane knows that her career is over if the truth comes out, but what can she do?

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Plot Keywords:

square dance | screwball comedy | connecticut | food | farm | 

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Taglines:

It's the fun show that's the one show to see! (original ad)

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

11 August 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

Indiscrição

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Felix (S.Z. Sakall) first meets Yardly (Sydney Greenstreet), he takes an immediate dislike to him and mumbles under his breath, "Fat man" and walks away. In The Maltese Falcon (1941) Greenstreet played the role of Kasper Gutman whose code name was "Fat Man".

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Goofs

Yardley tells Sloan that Elizabeth's rival at another magazine has announced she is going to have a baby, and Yardley states that they have to beat her to the punch, as they will surely lose readership. Even Yardley can't do anything about nature- it still takes nine months to have a baby, so it would be impossible, even if Elizabeth conceived on the first night of marriage. Additionally, if they actually managed to have the baby before the woman at the rival magazine, it would naturally appear that Elizabeth had conceived before she was married.

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Quotes

Felix Bassenak: I had a silk hat when I was in Budapest. It made me feel so fine, but then I got fired with a silk hat.

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Connections

Featured in A Hollywood Christmas (1996)

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Soundtracks

Bridal Chorus
(uncredited)
from "Lohengrin"
Music by Richard Wagner
Played on the phonograph for the wedding ceremony

User Reviews

The best Christmas gift one can receive!

This Christmas gift arrived courtesy of TCM. We had never seen the film, even though we have seen most of the films of Barbara Stanwyck. This comedy made us laugh so much, that at times, we had to restrain ourselves, in order to hear the dialog.

This is a movie that should be seen by people suffering from stressful situations, especially around Christmas. It would certainly lift one's spirits by just letting go. The movie would make a perfect gift in the form of a DVD, or a VHS tape.

"Christmas in Connecticut" was directed with great panache by Peter Godfrey, based on a story by Aileen Hamilton.

The best thing in the movie is the felicitous pairing of two of the most popular stars of that era: Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan. Barbara Stanwyck always played strong willed women, obviously, this was a change of pace for her. In this film, as well as "Lady Eve", Ms. Stanwyck displays a knack for comedy. She and Mr. Morgan, who played in a lot of musical comedies, make a winning combination.

There are no weak performances in the film. Sydney Greenstreet, an actor notorious for playing 'heavies', is a delight to watch as the rich, and fat, Alexander Yardley, the man who owned a media empire and who knew a good thing when he saw it. Reginald Gardiner, an accomplished English actor, adds luster to the stellar cast behind the two principals.

S. Z. Sakall, is another source of continuous mirth; he plays the Hungarian chef Felix,who has a hard time with his own version of the English language. Also, Una O'Connor makes a perfect Norah, the housekeeper in the Sloan perfect Connecticut farm.

In reading other comments in this forum, it's sad to learn that the glorious black and white cinematography is not appreciated by some people. After all, color was not widely used in the 40s, and most of the classic movies have to be seen in its original format because, what would be accomplished in 'coloring' them?

This film should be a requirement for anyone looking to spend almost two hours of uninterrupted fun at Christmas time because total merriment is assured. Watch it with an open mind and heart an maybe you'd like to see "Christmas in Connecticut" every year.