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over 2 years ago

The Shop Around the Corner

a review by CinemaSerf

Frank Morgan is super in this delightful comedy drama. His general goods store finds itself with a new employee in "Klara" (Margaret Sullavan) who has loads of new techniques and a style that manages to irk long time supervisor "Kralik" (James Stewart). What we know from early on is that both are engaged, enthusiastically, in a pen-pal relationship unaware of the true identities of each other - and their antics as the first meeting looms ever closer make for highly entertaining stuff to watch. Things take a bit of a downturn when, suddenly, "Kralik" falls a little foul of his normally jovial, somewhat dithery, boss - and though the audience can readily guess why, it takes a while for the old gent to realise the error of his ways. There is something immeasurably genial about the whole thing. The scenes in the stockroom where they are moving what are clearly empty boxes, the character actors in support - especially Joseph Schildkraut ("Vadaz") and the ever reliable Felix Bressart ("Pirovitch") frequently raise a smile but it's always Morgan who steals the scenes as the amiable employer who gets the wrong end of the stick. Certainly a classic film from Ernst Lubitsch, well worth searching out on a big screen if you can.