The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
In Ernst Lubitsch's brilliant, charming and sophisticated
romantic comedy about mistaken identities, the story was portrayed
by everyday people in a "shop around the corner" - the
main characters were two feuding, lonely-hearts co-workers who were
also pen pals in a love-hate relationship - [Note: it was remade
by Hollywood as You've Got Mail (1998) with Tom Hanks and
Meg Ryan]:
- the setting: a Budapest (Hungary) notions/gift and
leather goods shop, named Matuschek and Company, owned by Hugo
Matuschek (Frank Morgan), where head sales clerk: bookish, mild-mannered
and bashful bachelor Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) was a long-time
top employee
- one of the products in the shop, stubbornly promoted
by Matuschek, was a cigarette box selling for 4.25 that played the
tune: "Ochi Tchornya"; desperate job-seeker Klara Novak
(Margaret Sullavan) in her first scene, entered the store and proved
her ability to sell by suggesting the product's use as a weight-controlling
candy box to a female customer - and even negotiated for a higher
price: ("Now, this little box makes you candy-conscious. That's
what Matuschek and Company designed it for. Every time you open it,
this tinkling little song is a message to you. 'Too much candy, now
be careful'!"); for her clever selling skills, she was offered
a job by Matuschek; Alfred offered his own downgraded assessment: "I
think people who like to smoke candy and listen to cigarettes will
love it"; for the remainder of the film, however, no other cigarette
boxes were sold
- the scenes of the constant dislike, arguments, insults
and mutual bickering between the newly-hired shopgirl and Alfred;
both were unaware that they were each other's anonymous, love-struck
pen pals who were writing each other very literate correspondence;
they were, on paper, romantically compatible and corresponded with
affectionate "lonely-hearts" letters
- one of Klara's letters, read outloud by Alfred, began
with her joy at receiving his letter: "My heart was trembling
as I walked into the post office, and there you were, lying in Box
237. I took you out of your envelope and read you, read you right
there. Oh, my Dear Friend"
- the scene of Alfred's firing by his employer Hugo
Matuschek (Frank Morgan) - wrongly suspected of having an affair
with the owner's wife (never-seen)
- in a memorable scene at Cafe Nizza that same night,
unemployed Alfred was convinced by co-worker Pirovitch (Felix Bressart)
to go ahead with his date with his pen pal sweetheart; Pirovitch
had looked through the window and told Alfred that his date looked
just like Klara Novak from the store and encouraged him to follow
through; when Alfred entered, he didn't reveal his secret identity
to her, and talked to her only as a co-worker; he suggested: "There
are many things you don't know about me, Miss Novak. As a matter
of fact, there might be a lot we don't know about each other. You
know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of
things to find the inner truth"; she was less than interested:
"Well, I really wouldn't care to scratch your surface, Mr. Kralik,
because I know exactly what I'd find. Instead of a heart, a hand-bag.
Instead of a soul, a suitcase. And instead of an intellect, a cigarette
lighter which doesn't work"; he considered her answer a "mixture
of poetry and meanness"
- he remained in the cafe and sat down behind her, but
she thought he was sabotaging her date: "Are you deliberately
trying to spoil my evening? Why do you want to do me harm? Why do
you hate me so?"; he proved her point when he told her: "You
may have very beautiful thoughts, but you certainly hide them. As
far as your actions are concerned, you're cold and snippy like an
old maid, and you're gonna have a tough time getting a man to fall
in love with you"
- Kralik's redemption: the seducer of Matuschek's wife
was revealed to be another employee, womanizing Ferencz Vadas (Joseph
Schildkraut); now vindicated, forgiven, rehired, and given the task
of firing Vadas, Alfred called him a "two-faced, double-crossin'
two-timer"; he pushed Vadas into a pile of the cigarette boxes
that collapsed onto the floor and began playing the tune in discordant
ways; as a reference letter, Alfred recommended Vadas as a "stool
pigeon, a trouble-maker, and a rat"
- in the happy conclusion two weeks later on Christmas
Eve, while Alfred and Klara were alone in the store, he told her
that he had just recently met her mystery-man fiancee - a Mr. Mathias
Popkin; he described him as overweight, balding, depressed, unemployed,
and a plagiarist; then, he grabbed her and confided that he couldn't
keep his secret any longer: "My dearest, sweetheart Klara, I
can't stand it any longer. Please, take your key and open post office
box 237 and take me out of my envelope and kiss me" - he placed
a carnation on his lapel - she registered shock and amazement that
he was her mystery pen-pal correspondent - her "Dear Friend";
she asked: "You? Dear Friend?"
- Alfred asked if she was "disappointed" -
she disclosed: "Psychologically, I'm very confused. But personally,
I don't feel bad at all"; she reminded him how rude she had
been in the Cafe on their first date, and that she had called him
bow-legged; in the final words of the film, he affirmed: "Oh,
well, but, and I was going to prove to you that I wasn't. I was going
to go out to the street and pull up my trousers" - she asked: "Well,
would you mind very much if I asked you to pull them up now?" -
after raising his pants legs, she took one look - and then they hugged
and kissed before the final fade-out