Rent The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

4.0 of 5 from 97 ratings
1h 38min
Rent The Shop Around the Corner (aka Shopworn Angel) Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
  • General info
  • Available formats
Synopsis:
Tell bickering Budapest gift-shop workers Alfred (James Stewart) and Klara (Margaret Sullavan) that they love each other and they might call you crazy. No lover can compare to the romantic, secret pen pal each knows only as Dear Friend. What Alfred and Klara don't know, of course, is that they are each other's Dear Friend.
Actors:
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Directors:
Producers:
Ernst Lubitsch
Writers:
Samson Raphaelson, Miklós László, Ben Hecht
Aka:
Shopworn Angel
Genres:
Classics, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Collections:
10 Films to Watch if You Like To Be or Not to Be, 12 Films of Christmas Past, All You Need to Know About Dump Month Movies, Films to Watch If You Like..., Getting to Know :Tom Hanks, Getting to Know..., Holidays Film Collection, Paramount's Laughing Thirties, A Brief History of Film..., Top 10 Bookshop Scenes, Top 10 Films Set in Department Stores, Top 100 AFI Passions, Top Films
BBFC:
Release Date:
Not released
Run Time:
98 minutes
Languages:
English
DVD Regions:
Region 0 (All)
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
B & W
BBFC:
Release Date:
15/11/2021
Run Time:
99 minutes
Languages:
English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.37:1
Colour:
B & W
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
  • Screen Guild Players - Radio Broadcast (9/29/40)
  • Lux Radio Theater Broadcast (6/23/41)
  • Theatrical Trailer

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Reviews (1) of The Shop Around the Corner

Comedy Drama. - The Shop Around the Corner review by Steve

Spoiler Alert
07/01/2023

A candidate for the saddest comedy the Hollywood studios ever made. There's a classic romcom premise of a pair of quarrelling work colleagues falling in love through unwittingly being pen pals... But the whole film is immersed in a heavy melancholy. Not so much because of the attempted suicide of the pair's employer, but the sombre mood of sorrow.

The speech of the actors is slowed right down. James Stewart talks the whole film in a hushed monotone like he is hypnotised. The workers are poor and controlled by an often inconsiderate boss (he does redeem himself). Their employment in a Budapest luxury goods store doesn't bring them satisfaction, but indignity. They toil only to provide and survive.

The simple solace the workers have is the support of each other, which cannot be relied on. And the possibility that they may marry one day. It's a film about the tension between appearances and reality, which leads to misunderstanding. Stewart and Margaret Sullavan hate each other, but when they exchange their deepest thoughts by letter, they fall in love.

It's not a typical Ernst Lubitsch film. We are back in Europe, but there's no carefree innuendo or high society glamour. Its influence on Billy Wilder's The Apartment is unmissable. Without the element of comedy the feeling of despair would be unbearable. It's one of the great American films; heartfelt, captivating and unorthodox. But thank goodness for the happy ending.

1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.

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