Christmas in Connecticut (1945) (DVD)

One of the funniest Christmas movies ever made, it's good to see that Christmas in Connecticut is not just still remembered, but seems to be picking up new fans every year. One of the keys to its popularity is that it avoids the current notion that a Christmas film has to have a big message and instead keeps the focus on the laughs. It's really a comedy set during Christmas. It's light and breezy but also full of charm and warmth. It's shot in black & white, which I only mention because some people still want everything in color. Barbara Stanwyck is columnist Elizabeth Lane who writes domestic stories about her husband and new child and their idyllic life on their Connecticut farm, a forties version of Martha Stewart. Each column features a new recipe. It's all a fantasy which Lane imagines each month from her New York apartment with the recipes supplied by her friend Felix (S.Z. Sakall), who owns a Hungarian restaurant on 46th Street complete with a cimbalom player.This works well until the publisher, the imperious Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet), is sold on the idea of sending a war hero, a sailor (Dennis Morgan) who survived 18 days on a life raft, to her farm to have a real family Christmas., This setup is handled really well as a kind of dramatic prologue that opens this holiday film improbably underwater in a submarine. Yardley's family won't be coming up this year from Florida so he decides to spend his holiday at Lane's perfect Connecticut farm as well. This creates a potentially job-losing dilemma for Lane. With the help of architect and lukewarm suitor John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner) who happens to have a Connecticut farmhouse he's been renovating. and Felix with his chef's talents she hopes to fool both the sailor and Yardley. The resulting comedy of errors builds on itself getting ever more complicated and outrageous yet without really seeming impossible.The wonderful cast makes the film really sparkle. Barbara Stanwyck usually played serious leads in films like Double Indemnity and this rare comic outing shows she had the knack for comedy. Sydney Greenstreet played nothing but villains in films like The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca and it's a delight to see him lighten up. here. His role is tricky because though he is really kind-hearted, he hides it under a gruff exterior and being a very powerful man can still be dangerous if crossed. S.Z. Sakall, a Hungarian comic actor who had fled the Nazis, had made a splash as Carl, the head waiter in Casablanca and was about to begin playing a long line of befuddled European uncle-types in many films. His Felix is his first role of this type and in this film he's also a kind of magical character who helps things right themselves in the end.Dennis Morgan as the sailor has a tricky role because he's such a normal All-American guy type, but he manages to exude warmth and adds a believability to the romance in the film. A singer, he gets a nice scene at the piano while Stanwyck decorates an enormous Christmas Tree. Reginald Gardiner wants to marry Stanwyck but it seems he really wants a trophy wife. When he kisses her he immediately begins to discuss plumbing (when Morgan kisses her, harps play). Gardiner gives a cabbie a dime for a tip on a dollar fare while Morgan gives a delivery boy a dollar tip on a dollar delivery. The two could not be more different. Una O'Connor, a veteran of many classic films is great as Norah, Sloan's cook who doesn't appreciate Felix putting paprika in her Irish stew.It's all good fun and Warner Brothers went all out with a great set perfect for the era, when renovating old farmhouses into rustic showplaces was a very hip thing. They even open things up outdoors for a town dance and sleighride scene. The script is light and breezy and always funny. In the end even the fat man says, "What a Christmas!".EXTRA NOTE: Barbara Stanwyck made an earlier Christmas movie with Fred MacMurray in 1940 titled Remember the Night. It is a quiet film that works its Christmas magic on you subtly and is very worthwhile. It's rare (I had to buy the DVD because no one was streaming it. Maybe someone is now or it might be on TV).

Christmas in Connecticut is one of those sweet walks down memory lane that come for a handful of great Christmas movies many of us grew up with and some are now sharing with their kids and grand kids. Okay, up front, Christmas in Connecticut is not one of my top ten holiday movies. My wife loves it. It's a holiday must see for her and an easy 5 star. For me it's more... 3 or 4 stars.The story begins with the WWII soldiers rescued, spending time in a hospital, and moving on during Christmas time. Love and miracles and possibilities are the backbone of holiday films and you'll find them aplenty here. In a small NYC apartment we meet our heroine, a "talented' writer offering up a wealth of knowledge... she is America's Martha Stewart of the 40s and housewives across America take her advice happily. Now one of those nurses with one of the wounded soldiers in the hospital reaches out to the publisher of the magazine our heroine... this turns into a great idea by the publisher: have the young man spend time with our heroine and her family on their Connecticut farm. What could go wrong?You'll have to watch to find out, but at the holidays anything can happen and here it does. Does Christmas in Connecticut show it's age? Does it have modern ideas of men and women or... you bet it doesn't. But movies are a snap shot of their times and can connect us to people and ideas and ways we sometimes need... or want. And when it's Christmas in Connecticut you can be sure it'll have laughter, tears, and a sleigh ride through the snow.

While "Christmas in Connecticut" is not in the upper echelon of the classic Christmas films of the 1940's such as "Holiday Inn"," It's a Wonderful Life", "The Bishop's Wife" or "Miracle on 34th Street", nonetheless it's a delectable sugarplum to make the forthcoming holidays that much cheerier, and give the sometime harried holiday viewer a much needed chuckle.Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) a young popular writer who is featured in the monthly magazine "Smart Housekeeping" is the Martha Stewart of the 1940's, teaching American housewives to be the perfect wives and mothers. She types her monthly feature from her charming colonial farmhouse in Connecticut in between cooking gourmet meals and caring for her adoring husband and baby. However the truth is it's all a hoax, Elizabeth is single, living in a Manhattan apartment and is given all her delectable recipes by her elderly avuncular friend Felix Bassenak (S.Z.Sakall), a successful restaurant owner. The autocratic owner of the magazine, Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) unaware of the deception, forces Elizabeth to entertain a young war hero, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) as a guest at her home for Christmas so he can sample the domestic joys of an old fashioned Christmas. To further complicate matters, Yardley peremptorily invites himself along as well. What is Elizabeth to do to keep from being discovered and losing both her editor's Dudley Beecham (Robert Shayne) and her own jobs just before Christmas?Bette Davis originally turned down the role of Elizabeth as being too frivolous wanting to keep to her heavily dramatic fare. Having just played one of the screen's greatest villainesses, the serpentine sociopath Phyllis Didrikson, in "Double Indemnity" Barbara Stanwyck probably welcomed the change of pace. Her Elizabeth Lane is delightful, breezy, savvy, and comical without being featherheaded or losing her femininity, and having a natural, playful sexiness. As her leading man, Dennis Morgan has the requisite manly good looks and low-keyed charm to make the story succeed, in addition to a nice tenor singing voice. The romantic chemistry is potent between the two of them from the initial meeting. They're aided and abetted by two outstanding comic foils in Sydney Greenstreet and S.Z. Sakall who keep the plot bright and bubbling. It's a particular treat to see Greenstreet shedding his sinister screen persona from "The Maltese Falcon" and "Casablanca", and reveal a lighter touch. Some quick nods of approval to Reginald Gardiner as John Sloan, Elizabeth's stuffy would be husband, Una O'Connor as his dry Irish housekeeper, Nora, Robert Shayne as Dudley Beecham, Elizabeth's frazzled editor, and finally Joyce Compton as Mary Lee, the molasses sweet Southern nurse that starts all the trouble.The sprawling Connecticut farmhouse is wonderful, beautifully furnished and decorated, classic New England, I would have loved to live there kudos for art director Stanley Fleisher. I'm not familiar with the work of either director Peter Godfrey or screenwriter Lionel Houser, but I rate them both an A here for their efforts.In terms of extras there is a vintage Oscar winning short called "Star in the Night" which is a touching Christmas story, plus the original theatrical trailer. So, if you love Christmas movies I highly recommend you add this to your collection; the Amazon price of $5.49 is a real bargain and it's as rich and as satisfying as a plate full of homemade iced gingerbread people!

Great movie for the holidays! I would recommend watching this movie!!!

Have enjoyed watching this movie very much several times and will watch again!

I love this old movie and try to watch it every Christmas

I love the movie and the characters. One of my all time favorite movies and season.

Très satisfait du service.

Parfait

Had this in VHS. Now happy to own in DVDThis is a classic Xmas movie.You will not regret buying this oneLizard

I'd been recommended to this film and am so delighted I was. It's perfect - funny, wonderful performances by actors from the past whom I have always adored and I wish they still made films this witty and enchanting.

Produit arrivé rapidement, excellent service de la part du vendeur (RareWaves USA).Par contre la description du DVD par Amazon n'est pas correct, il n'y a pas de doublage français sur le DVD mais uniquement des sous-titres parmi lesquels figure le français.La bande son française était l'une de mes principales motivations pour cet achat même si ce film est un classique qui mérite d'être découvert en v.o.