Review for The Shop Around the Corner

While I agree that James Stewart's most relevant period as an actor of depth and subtlety began after World War II, there is still much to love and esteem during his Hollywood salad days of the 1930's to the early 1940's. The Shop Around the Corner is just such a gem of a film that shows James Stewart at his best, even though it took the clout of his co-star Margaret Sullavan to get his foot in the door. Here is one of the early examples of Stewart's ability to cast himself as the Everyman Underdog and work his wonderful way into our hearts.

It took Hollywood a while to figure out just what do with Stewart who did not fit into the prototypical romantic leading man type....he was not Clark Gable, the big and ruggedly handsome hero man. Stewart was more of a Gary Cooper sort of guy....tall, slim, and sweet looking, the difference being that Stewart could say more than the occasional syllable. In the Frank Capra film, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, the persona of the little guy everyman is perfected for Stewart and it would see him through the years of a very successful and long lived career. The Shop Around the Corner picks up this type of character a year later and Stewart was off to the races.

Shop tells the now familiar story of two co-workers, Stewart and Sullivan, who hate each other while they work together in the shop by day, but are unknowing passionate lovers as they correspond as pen pals through the mail. Shop's basic premise would be worked over again and again over the years...most notably as a musical In the Good Old Summertime with Van Johnson and Judy Garland and most recently as You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan corresponding over the Internet.

Ernst Lubitsch' s wonderful first version also has a dark side along with all the romantic comedy chemistry of Stewart and Sullavan. The shop's owner, played by wonderful character actor Frank Morgan, suspects that his wife is fooling around on him and he suspects his favored clerk Stewart of being part of the triangle. In a fit of jealous rage, Morgan fires Stewart right before Christmas, putting the success of his shop at risk. Eventually Morgan learns that Stewart is innocent and consequently has a nervous breakdown, trying unsuccessfully to commit suicide. Eventually and predictably, all is forgiven and Stewart finally wins back his job and his lady love, Sullavan.

Although predicable in some respects, Shop with the Morgan subplot and fine character acting cast is sweet with just a tad bit of the sour to make it relevant and memorable. Stewart and his great acting mentor Margaret Sullavan strike all the good chords for a very entertaining, Classic Hollywood good time! TH Reviews rating: 4 1/2 stars of Five!