May’s Smart Bitch Movie Matinee was decided by a random number generator, with the lucky winner being The Shop Around the Corner! I don’t think any of us have seen this one, but many of you suggested it when we asked for ideas of what movies to watch each month.
The Shop Around the Corner is a 1940 film starring James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, and Frank Morgan. You might recognize the name as the film that You’ve Got Mail was based upon, but it was also remade twice as a musical: In the Good Old Summertime with Judy Garland in 1949, and She Loves Me in 1963. All of these versions, including The Shop Around the Corner, are based on a 1937 play called Parfumerie, written by Miklós László.
The full description reads :
The Shop Around the Corner has a 100% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, and is on many, many, many best movie lists.
The Shop Around the Corner is available for around $3 to rent and $8-10 to buy digitally on iTunes, Google:Play, and Amazon, and the DVD can be found at your local library, or cheaply online in new and used condition from Amazon or Alibris.
Join us Sunday, May 29, for our discussion of The Shop Around the Corner!
Yay! My local library owns this. (I forgot about the last one until the discussion post went up. ILLs take about a week. 🙁 )
Oddly, the two films I know I’ve seen from 1940 are both favorites. (Favorite Hitchcock movie and just Favorite.)
I love this movie so hard!
Stewart was an underrated romantic lead here, Clara (Sullavan) is refreshingly outspoken and takes zero shit. And the “that’s all the music he needs” line slayed me at fifteen and still slays me now.
So excited– this is one of my favorites! It’s one of the great romantic trope story lines of all times (just look at all the reimaginings!), but my favorite thing is the little community of shop workers it sets up around the main couple. It’s got such a warm, quirky, found-family vibe. I’m looking forward to seeing other folks’ reactions!
Oh, it’s been a long time. I’d love to do a re-watch. Is it weird I swoon over Jimmy Stewart?
Did you know all of your links go to”The Quiet Man?”
@Abby – OOPS. My bad! All fixed – sorry about that!
Oh, my goodness – what a beautiful movie! Every performance is great, the script is gorgeous, the direction is genius – what more could you want in a swoon-worthy romantic comedy? Sheer perfection.
Yay! This movie is just so happy.
Love this movie! And I’m not a huge Margaret Sullavan fan, but I do like her in this. I don’t think I’ve ever watched TSATC during any month other than December (to me it’s a Christmas movie, even though it really isn’t), so this will be a new experience for me!
I know I’m in the minority, but I could never warm up to this feel-good movie because I thought the heroine was just too nasty too long to the hero. Please let me know what you think about my criticism, after you’ve seen it. I loved the atmosphere and the glimpse into an old-fashioned world.
@Lynda X: I am curious! One of the pitfalls of the love/hate slap-slap-kiss plotlines is that if one party drags out the animosity too long without reason, they start to appear nasty and mean. It’s tricky to pull off… especially against Jimmy Stewart!
Looking forward to this! I last saw it many years ago when I was a very poor graduate student/entry level arts worker living in the Philadelphia area at a point in my life where cable TV was about as achievable as a Maserati. At the time, the Philly PBS station showed two classic movies every Saturday night–usually a better-known one first, and then a more obscure one–and I have very happy memories of seeing many great classics for the first time on my 13″ TV with rabbit ears. Looking forward to seeing if it holds up!
OMG!!! OMG!!! I’M SO EXCITED TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS MOVIE!!! Now I think of it though, you could watch it and completely hate it.
And on a more timely note, She Loves Me is being revived on Broadway.
Oh my, this was on TV years ago (possibly 40+) and I loved it. Jimmy Stewart — such a sweetie. Add Margaret Sullavan and Frank Morgan and it all added up to a truly enjoyable movie! Thanks for reminding me.
I remember liking this one, but not loving it to the level so many others did. I look forward to checking it out again.
Love love love this movie! I saw In the Good Old Summertime first and it’s fantastic. I didn’t know there was another musical remake. Squeee!
Also, is the Google form to submit suggestions still available? I think there are movies I suggested in the comments of that original post, but didn’t actually suggest using the form.
@Abby and SBSarah:
The quiet Man could also be a future movie selection? One which I can’t remember if I brought up or not.
@SBSarah::
The tags for the post also say John Wayne and Quiet Man FYI. I guess you really had him and that movie on the brain? 🙂
Yes, I look at the tags and categories for each post.
I watch this every Christmas! Thanks for the reminder that it’s not ONLY a Christmas movie; it can be viewed and enjoyed any time of year!
I love, love, love this movie!!!
Love this film and love Jimmy Stewart – he’s so sweet and earnest in this. Definitely going to rewatch it.
This is one of my favorites!
Just FYI, this isn’t available to rent on Amazon. It can only be bought.
Very fortuitously, this is on PBS tonight at 9pm