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Christmas in Connecticut
An enchanting performance by Barbara Stanwyck is the center piece of a sparkling romantic comedy from 1945 called Christmas in Connecticut, an irresistible combination of sophisticated drawing room comedy and silly slapstick, not to mention a terrific supporting cast.
Stanwyck plays Elizabeth Lane, a magazine writer who has been presenting her life on paper as a wife and mother, who is an amazing cook living on a cozy farm in Connecticut. In reality, Elizabeth is unmarried, childless, and doesn't know how to boil an egg. She finds herself in hot water when the publisher of her magazine invites himself and a handsome war hero to spend Christmas at her farm.
In order to keep her job, Elizabeth agrees to marry John Sloan, a longtime admirer who she doesn't love, but happens to own a farm. She gets her friend, a restaurant owner named Felix, to accompany her to Connecticut to cook for her, but things become immediately messy when Elizabeth falls in love with the war hero the second she lays eyes on him.
Screenwriters Lionel Houser and Adele Comandini have created a sophisticated adult comedy that plays a little bit like an extended episode of I Love Lucy which finds the central character pretending to be someone else in order to save her job but doesn't count on actually falling in love. It's so much fun watching Elizabeth's plan to save her job go completely out the window when she actually falls in love, made all the more interesting by the fact that Elizabeth is a woman who has always been about her career and that romance has never been on her agenda. I loved Elizabeth dealing with her fake baby, always referring to her as "it."
Peter Godfrey's direction is brisk and energetic and gets wonderful performances from a willing cast. Stanwyck is beautifully understated in a role that could have become very silly, but Stanwyck keeps the character steeped in realism. Dennis Morgan is charming as the war hero and Sydney Greenstreet proves to be quite adept at comedy in his role as Elizabeth's boss. Reginald Gardiner is fully invested in the role of the fussy, self-absorbed John Sloan and SZ "Cuddles" Sakall steals every scene he's in as Felix the cook. Mention should also be made of Fredrich Hollander's music that practically narrates the story without intruding. Solid entertainment can still be gleaned from this delicious comedy that's 75 years old.
An enchanting performance by Barbara Stanwyck is the center piece of a sparkling romantic comedy from 1945 called Christmas in Connecticut, an irresistible combination of sophisticated drawing room comedy and silly slapstick, not to mention a terrific supporting cast.
Stanwyck plays Elizabeth Lane, a magazine writer who has been presenting her life on paper as a wife and mother, who is an amazing cook living on a cozy farm in Connecticut. In reality, Elizabeth is unmarried, childless, and doesn't know how to boil an egg. She finds herself in hot water when the publisher of her magazine invites himself and a handsome war hero to spend Christmas at her farm.
In order to keep her job, Elizabeth agrees to marry John Sloan, a longtime admirer who she doesn't love, but happens to own a farm. She gets her friend, a restaurant owner named Felix, to accompany her to Connecticut to cook for her, but things become immediately messy when Elizabeth falls in love with the war hero the second she lays eyes on him.
Screenwriters Lionel Houser and Adele Comandini have created a sophisticated adult comedy that plays a little bit like an extended episode of I Love Lucy which finds the central character pretending to be someone else in order to save her job but doesn't count on actually falling in love. It's so much fun watching Elizabeth's plan to save her job go completely out the window when she actually falls in love, made all the more interesting by the fact that Elizabeth is a woman who has always been about her career and that romance has never been on her agenda. I loved Elizabeth dealing with her fake baby, always referring to her as "it."
Peter Godfrey's direction is brisk and energetic and gets wonderful performances from a willing cast. Stanwyck is beautifully understated in a role that could have become very silly, but Stanwyck keeps the character steeped in realism. Dennis Morgan is charming as the war hero and Sydney Greenstreet proves to be quite adept at comedy in his role as Elizabeth's boss. Reginald Gardiner is fully invested in the role of the fussy, self-absorbed John Sloan and SZ "Cuddles" Sakall steals every scene he's in as Felix the cook. Mention should also be made of Fredrich Hollander's music that practically narrates the story without intruding. Solid entertainment can still be gleaned from this delicious comedy that's 75 years old.