Underplayed Gems

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

The Shop Around the Corner poster
Directed by
Ernst Lubitsch
Genre
drama film, romantic comedy, Christmas film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 39m
Rated
NR
Rating
8.1 of 10 from 850 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Two coworkers in a Budapest shop constantly bicker with each other. They do not realize that each is the other's secret pen pal and love interest. Their letters keep them connected as they navigate misunderstandings at work.

warmcharmingwhimsicalromanticplayfulbittersweetcozy

What happens

The Shop Around the Corner is a 1940 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, and Joseph Schildkraut. The screenplay by Samson Raphaelson is based on the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklós László. The film is about two employees at a leather goods shop in pre-war Budapest who can barely stand each other, not realizing they are falling in love as anonymous correspondents through their letters. It follows social themes associated with the lives of the middle class. Though the film did not do well at the box office, it was met with generally positive reviews from film critics. It has since been adapted into three productions. In 1999 The Shop Around the Corner was selected with 24 other films to be included in the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthically" significant and is also included in the all-time top 100 movies selected by Time magazine. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.