What 1940 film starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan is a romantic comedy set in a gift shop?
Answer
The Shop Around the Corner
What 1940 film starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan is a romantic comedy set in a gift shop? The answer is The Shop Around the Corner.
Ernst Lubitsch directed this romantic comedy-drama, set in a leather-goods shop in prewar Budapest. James Stewart plays Alfred Kralik, while Margaret Sullavan plays Klara Novak. The two employees clash at work without realizing that they are falling in love as anonymous letter writers.
The story is based on Miklós László’s 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie. Samson Raphaelson wrote the screenplay, and the film’s appeal comes from the contrast between public irritation and private romantic idealism. Frank Morgan plays shop owner Hugo Matuschek, whose personal troubles add a more serious emotional thread.
The film is often confused with You've Got Mail, but that 1998 movie is a modern adaptation of the same basic anonymous-correspondence premise. The 1940 original also inspired the 1949 musical In the Good Old Summertime and the Broadway musical She Loves Me. It was selected for the U.S. National Film Registry in 1999.