THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER

The Shop Around the Corner

Saturday, December 21st 2002 7 PM

1940 MGM 97 min

There is no better movie to show in the shop laden town of San Anselmo then this one. This may be the best romantic comedy of all-time. Apparently Warner Brothers thought so when it decided to remake the 1940 classic as YOU"VE GOT MAIL with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

The great Ernst Lubitsch handles his "small" theme brilliantly, bringing the lives of everyday people to the screen as he had never done before. In contrast to the glamorous heroes of other Lubitsch Films, James Stewart's everyman sales clerk is as prosaic as they come. Working in a leather goods shop in Budapest, Stewart is the top clerk and a trusted friend of the owner Mr. Matuschek, played by the lovable Frank Morgan (the Wizard in THE WIZARD OF OZ). Together, Stewart and Morgan head a tightly knit force of workers, all eager to please. Among them is Stewart's closest ally, Pirovitch (Felix Bressart), an aging clerk who leads a simple life avoiding confrontation; Vadas (Joseph Schildkraut), a braggart who flashes his newly acquired wealth; and Pepi (William Tracy), an aspiring clerk who is constantly being bossed around. Trouble brews when the unemployed Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) enters the shop and begs Morgan to hire her as Christmas help.

The film features a James Stewart many of us have forgotten once existed, his touch is delicate and precise. He is perfectly matched by Sullivan, a forgotten genius who never gave a bad performance. And this is perhaps Morgan's finest performance, though he is pretty good in TORTILLA FLAT as well.

Lubitsch is the unseen star of this picture who was famous for the "Lubitsch Touch". The brilliant director began working at Warner Brothers where he established his reputation for sophisticated comedy. He would move from studio to studio leaving a legacy of great Hollywood movies; SO THIS IS PARIS, TROUBLE IN PARADISE, NINOTCHKA, HEAVEN CAN WAIT and the dark anti-nazi comedy TO BE OR NOT TO BE are just a few. Many tried but few succeeded in duplicating the Lubitsch touch. At the director's funeral, a distraught Billy Wilder said, "No more Lubitsch," to which fellow filmmaker William Wyler replied, "Worse than that. No more Lubitsch pictures."

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