Christmas in Connecticut
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Movie Reviews of Christmas in Connecticut
Movie Review: " Oh it's Yardley, he's sending me a sailor for Christmas!"
Summary: 5 Stars
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!
Movie Review: Catastroph!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to admit, I don't really like most holiday movies. They tend to be too sugary and whimsical for my taste.
But "Christmas in Connecticut" is a delicious exception, being less a holiday movie than a romantic comedy that happens to be at Christmas. Sure, i it's a bit on the fluffy side, but it never dips into the sentimental or syrupy, and the country Christmas makes a delightful setting for a more grown-up Christmas story.
Navy officer Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) nearly starves to death after his ship sinks. While he's recovering, his nurse is convinced that if he spends Christmas at a "real home," he'll go all domestic and marry her. So she writes magazine mogul Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) for assistance. Yardley decides to send Jones to stay with his hottest asset: perfect wife/mother/cook/columnist Elizabeth Lane (Stanwyck), on her farm in Connecticut.
Problem is, she's actually an urban singleton who can't cook to save her life. So to keep up the ruse, Elizabeth hastily accepts a proposal from an old friend, stuffy John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner) -- who happens to have a farm in Connecticut. But when she arrives at the farm, she's instantly smitten with Jones, and starts to rethink the whole marriage thing... especially when her charade starts to collapse.
"Christmas in Connecticut" is just a funny, romantic, heartwarming little Christmas movie. It straddles the fence between a screwball and a straightforward romantic comedy, and director Peter Godfrey keeps it all looking effortless. It's just fun, fun, fun, even when Elizabeth's secret inevitably comes out.
Instead, Godfrey deftly juggled the romantic and screwball aspects of the movie. A lot of the humor is centered on Sloan trying to marry Elizabeth, and always getting interrupted. There's also some gloriously embarrassing humor from baby-washing, snowdrifts, and pancake flipping.
It also has lots of funny dialogue; when Yardley yells, "I don't want anything to happen to that baby. It will ruin my circulation!," Felix chimes in with, "It won't do the baby no good, neither." But it also has some achingly romantic scenes, like Jones and Elizabeth's sleigh ride on a moonlight, snowy night.
Stanwyck and the boyishly sweet Morgan have solid chemistry, although it's restricted to G-rated flirting since he thinks she's married. We also get a wonderful performance from Greenstreet, who plays a more genial character than usual. And S.Z. Sakall steals the show as the wily chef Felix, who is determined to see "Lizka" live happily ever after with Jones.
The DVD also contains the Oscar-winning short, "Star in the Night." It takes place in the American west, with a young man and his pregnant wife (guess who!) arriving at an inn, where the embittered Italian innkeeper tells them that there's no room. When the young girl goes into labor, the cowboys and travellers around the innkeeper show him that human nature is not essentially selfish.
For anyone seeking a little Christmas story aimed at grown-ups, this might be the right balance of romance and sly wit. An enchanting little movie for the holidays.
Movie Review: a wonderful holiday film--and a perennial favorite
Summary: 5 Stars
Christmas In Connecticut is a fine holiday classic film with great performances by Barbara Stanwyck, Sidney Greenstreet, Dennis Morgan, S. K. Sakall, Joyce Compton--and several others, too! The plot is interesting and it moves along at a very good pace; there's lots of comedy and light-hearted action that lets this movie pack a really enjoyable punch! The cinematography works well and the choreography shines in the square dancing scene as well as the scene in a New York City restaurant. The script was very good, too.
When the film begins, we meet Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) who, with a little help from her friend "Uncle" Felix (S. K. Sakall) and her coworker Dudley (Robert Shayne), has managed to con magazine magnate Alexander Yardley (Sidney Greenstreet). She has Yardley, her top manager boss, believing that she is actually living on a farm in Connecticut, cooking incredible recipes with her husband and living the perfect, clean cut lifestyle. In actuality, however, Elizabeth rents a relatively small Manhattan apartment and she's very much ambivalent about her boyfriend John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner). In fact, Elizabeth can't even boil an egg--her recipes come to her courtesy of her good friend "Uncle" Felix who runs a restaurant!
It isn't long before the action starts. Yardley gets a letter from a nurse who works in a military hospital, Mary Lee (Joyce Compton). One of the people she nurses is a man who had to survive eighteen days without food in a life raft after his battleship was sunk by an enemy torpedo during World War Two. (Look for a nice cameo by Frank Jenks as the serviceman's buddy, Sinkewicz). Yardley instantly realizes that this would be a great publicity event if Elizabeth would host Christmas dinner at her farm in Connecticut for this poor serviceman--and this, of course, creates a huge crisis for Elizabeth who can't say no to her boss!
Of course, there are good and bad things that come Elizabeth's way as the plot unfolds. Her boyfriend John again proposes; and if she says "yes" he'll let Elizabeth use his own farm in Connecticut as hers for that Christmas dinner. Elizabeth doesn't love John and he knows that; but John thinks she will change her mind slowly but surely after they're married. Another complication is that Alexander Yardley invites himself to her Christmas dinner--and that serviceman, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan), turns out to be quite a guest, to say the least!
I won't give plot spoilers but I will say that every minute of this film is captivating. It's so well done; I think you'll like it. It truly has a universal appeal. In addition, there's a bonus entitled "A Star in the Night."
Christmas In Connecticut is a perennial favorite for many good reasons: the acting; the comedy and the fast moving plot with characters you can truly like. I highly recommend this film for fans of the actors in this movie; and fans of classic movies in general would do well to add this to their collections.
Movie Review: Family Christmas Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Our family watches this movie several times over the Christmas season and have loved it for years. The Christmas part of the story is really minor - it happens over Christmas. The things we love and laugh about each time are the subtle lines that you might not notice or catch if you only watch it once.
When Dudley is at Elizabeth's apartment giving her the bad news she asks him if he wants a drink and even as he is saying "no" he's pouring himself one. The snide comment about and in front of John that Uncle Felix makes early in film where they are in the restaurant and no one notices. The fact that the baby keeps changing genders (because there are different babies being watched by Nora) leading Elizabeth to such classic lines as "The baby's name is Robert --- oh...I mean Roberta" and "The baby - I must go to it".
And the classic from Uncle Felix when he tries to head off the marriage ceremony by saying the baby swallowed his watch - "You'd look different too if you swallowed a watch". Or shouting to call the police - not because the baby swallowed the watch but because it was a GOLD watch.
And watching the time actually change on the big grandfather clock in the hall of the house...you don't notice THAT till you've watched it a few times.
With (or even without) a few sips of Christmas cheer and family around we all laugh ourselves silly every time.
No, it's not a particularly "Christmas" movie, but it is one of those snappy dialogue 1940's films that you need to pay attention to get the most out of!
And do not by any means watch the remake with Kris Kristofferson...vile vile remake...
Movie Review: All that is old is new again
Summary: 5 Stars
Hmmm...Let's consider this timeline....
Martha Stewart-- born in New Jersey 1941
Holiday Inn 1942--Conn.; Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire leave NYC and compete for love interest on rural, lovely farm in Conn.
Christmas in Conn. 1945; Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan find a farm, love, grand cuisine, gracious home, and even a baby, in Conn.--and all to protect (at first, of course) corporate motivations of Stanwyck and boss--although Conn. changes them forever...
Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House 1948; Cary Grant and Myrna Loy build America's dream home in rural Conn., escaping NYC, with two children
Lucy and Ricky Ricardo 1956; move to lovely Westport, Conn., to escape NYC...with one child
Martha Stewart late 1960's; with baby and husband, leaves corporate NYC to concentrate on her home and farm in...Connecticut...
Hmmm... Well, the timeline is curious, and suggests an interest post WWII in a desire to return to rural America, farmland, and the quiet life....but surprisingly, despite similarities between Barbara and Martha, the story works. A classic.
A classic Christmas story with underpinnings of the conflict between women working or not in that era, it represents a WW II comedy of manners (or menace?!)in which class, manners, sex, and traditions are thrown about in quest of a great story. Compared to most Christmas sappy stories, this one is funny, fast, depicts the war of the sexes post-WW II, and still holds. Watch it, you'll love it--or minimally, consider looking for a farm in Conn.