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The Shop Around the Corner Overview:

The Shop Around the Corner (1940) was a Comedy - Romance Film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and produced by Ernst Lubitsch.

SYNOPSIS

One of Lubitsch's most beloved romantic comedies is about two feuding employees (Stewart and Sullavan) in Morgan's Budapest store who, unbeknownst to each other, are actually carrying on an amorous pen pal correspondence. On the night the correspondents finally agree to meet, each expecting a proposal, Mogan fires Stewart and makes Sullavan stay late. But through circumstance and one more letter, the scales finally drop from the eyes of the epistolary lovers. Truly a sweet tale with winning performances by Stewart and Sullavan. Remade in 1949 as a musical, In the Good Old Summertime (with Judy Garland and Van Johnson), a Broadway play, She Loves Me, and most recently via email as You've Got Mail (1998), with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

The Shop Around the Corner was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1999.

The Shop Around the Corner BlogHub Articles:

The Shop Around The Corner (1940): A Christmas Love Story

By 4 Star Film Fan on Dec 25, 2021 From 4 Star Films

The Shop Around The Corner samples a Hollywood-style Hungary that nevertheless establishes it as a much humbler, quieter picture than seasoned Lubitsch aficionados might be accustomed to. It’s subsequently one of his best efforts for this very reason. There’s an intimacy to it, recalling... Read full article

Holiday Delight on Blu-ray: It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947), Holiday Affair (1949), and The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

By KC on Dec 9, 2020 From Classic Movies

For over ten years on this site I have been banging the drum every holiday season about It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947), Holiday Affair (1949), and The Shop Around the Corner (1940). I never felt like they got enough love, though awareness of these charming films appears to have grown at a steady p... Read full article

Celebrating "The Shop Around the Corner" on its 80th Birthday

By The Lady Eve on Jan 10, 2020 From Lady Eve's Reel Life

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the premiere of what has been called Ernst Lubitsch’s “most discreet tour de force of art concealing art,” The Shop Around the Corner (1940). That’s a nicely spun phrase; some might simply call it perfection… ~ When she was asked,... Read full article

25 Days of Christmas: The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

on Dec 7, 2017 From Journeys in Classic Film

Originally published December 1st, 2014 As one comment on the Facebook page read when I alluded to my less-than-positive review of this film, it may be time to get out your pitchforks, readers.  It’s not that I didn’t like The Shop Around the Corner; it’s just not my favorite Erns... Read full article

25 Days of Christmas: The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

on Dec 4, 2016 From Journeys in Classic Film

Originally published December 1st, 2014 As one comment on the Facebook page read when I alluded to my less-than-positive review of this film, it may be time to get out your pitchforks, readers.  It’s not that I didn’t like The Shop Around the Corner; it’s just not my favorite Erns... Read full article

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The Shop Around the Corner Quotes:

Alfred Kralik: Pirovitch, did you ever get a bonus?
Pirovitch: Yes, once.
Alfred Kralik: Yeah. The boss hands you the envelope. You wonder how much is in it, and you don't want to open it. As long as the envelope's closed, you're a millionaire.
Alfred Kralik: Now if I were a girl and had to choose between a young good-for-nothing with plenty of hair and a good, solid, mature citizen, I'd pick Mathias Popkin every time.
Pepi Katona: [leaving Mr.Matuschek's room in hospital] Well Doctor, I would say it's a nervous breakdown. What do you think?
Doctor: It appears to be an acute epileptoid manifestation and a pan phobic melancholiac with indication of a neurasthenia cordus.
Pepi Katona: Is that more expensive than a nervous breakdown?
[Alfred Kralik has just disclosed to Klara Novak that he is her anonymous pen pal]
Alfred Kralik: Are you disappointed?
Klara Novak (Miss Novak): Psychologically, I'm very confused... But personally, I don't feel bad at all.
Hugo Matuschek: [after Miss Novak sells one of the musical cigarette boxes] Well, Mr. Kralik, what do you think now?
Alfred Kralik: I think people who like to smoke candy and listen to cigarettes will love it.
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The Shop Around the Corner Facts
Soon after wrapping principal photography, Ernst Lubitsch talked to the New York Sun in January 1940. "It's not a big picture, just a quiet little story that seemed to have some charm. It didn't cost very much, for such a cast, under $500,000. It was made in twenty-eight days. I hope it has some charm."
While directing this movie, Ernst Lubitsch drew upon his extensive experiences working in his father's Berlin shop as a young lad. At the film's January 25, 1940 premiere at Radio City Music Hall, Lubitsch remarked, "I have known just such a little shop in Budapest...The feeling between the boss and those who work for him is pretty much the same the world over, it seems to me. Everyone is afraid of losing his job and everyone knows how little human worries can affect his job. If the boss has a touch of dyspepsia, better be careful not to step on his toes; when things have gone well with him, the whole staff reflects his good humor.
The play, "Perfumerie" (also known as "Illatszertár"), was copyrighted 10 November 1936.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on September 29, 1940 with Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan reprising their film roles.
In the Book "Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise", Ernst Lubitsch called this film "the best picture I ever made in my life."
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