The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Retro Review #37: Actually it's in Budapest, but it's as cozy as it sounds.
The Shop Around the Corner (1940) — Actually it’s in Budapest, but it’s as cozy as it sounds.
+ Feature film, bw, 1h 39m
A ^
Family Suitability
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | Approved
Alignment with Judeo-Christian Values
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair/Slightly Favorable
+ Based on literature (stage play) “Parfumerie”❗🔜⭐ by Miklós László
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Grade: A ^ (12.0) / HOF: 30
EQ 👍A | 📖A 👥A 📽️B+ 🎼B
DW 🚫5.2 | 🌚7 🌝5
POPCAP 💯n/a 🍿n/a 🧢n/a
L-R ☮️n/a ◀️n/a ▶️n/a 🛐n/a
It’s easy to understand why “The Shop Around the Corner” is considered a cinema classic. The film is simple, but not simplistic. No special effects or award-winning soundtrack, no gimmicks or an epic cast with thousands of extras. Just a solidly entertaining story with drama, romance and comedy.
It’s a grown-up story, with grown-up comedy, that doesn't tip my Whimsy scale much. But hey, I may favor Dark Whimsy, but I don't only like Dark Whimsy. And this is a very good movie.
What it doesn’t have is much Christmassy content. But it’s set during the holiday season, and just like Die Hard, the consensus is that this is a Christmas movie, so I’m not about to argue.
James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play co-workers who do argue. They just can’t get along. They dream of love, but not with each other. Both have fallen for a correspondent via letters that may have begun innocently, but have stirred up romance. Well, no spoiler intended, but obviously we know where this is headed.
It’s funny how your feelings for the movie mirror the romance in the story. You start off open minded, wanting to like the film. But it’s only a little bit funny at first, not like your ideal of a romantic comedy. Do you really like this movie at all? There’s a lot of drama, but is it too much? Then there are revelations. You’re amused and reconsidering. You look at things differently. Eventually you’re laughing and charmed and love the film. Either that or you’re just psychologically mixed up until it’s almost over and you decide you’ve loved the film all along.
Sure, this is only the second best Christmas film starring Jimmy Stewart, but he’s terrific, elevating the entire cast, and The Shop Around the Corner is not to be missed. Enjoy the ride.
Onwards!
+ last viewed (2) 2025-12-05, HDX7, 1.37, 1M
+ first viewed 2024-12-24, HDX7, 1.37, 1M
+ 🎈⛄🎄🎅🗄️🥰😍😏😥🥸
Family Suitability Detail
+ ✅2️⃣ OK for teens and adults. (Grades 7+) | Approved
+ 😡+2 😵💫+2 🤬+4 🤭+2 🫣+4
Judeo-Christian Values Detail
+ ❎1️⃣ Fair/Slightly Favorable
+ ✝️ +2 ➕😇💒💒❤️💜 ➖(🔮)🚬
+ ✡️ +1 ➕🌗😠😊 ➖(🔮)
+ 🗽 +1 ➕🗽🏦🏦 ➖(🔮)
Note: This work is in the public domain in the United States, but I have not found a good recording on YouTube. Let me know in the comments if you find one to link here.
Please do not include spoilers in the comments.
Spoilers are permitted in the Chat for this work.
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Originally posted to text group 2024-12-26
Re-reviewed and updated 2025-12-05
Note from Rick Retro: This review was originally posted December 26, 2024 to a select group of friends and family via a text group. We have roughly five times as many subscribers in our community now, so I am working on formatting and uploading all those old reviews to Substack for all of you and future subscribers as well.
At that time, I had not completely developed my full review format, so I am also re-reviewing most of these works to match the format of my newer reviews. Since these posts were almost entirely holiday themed from a 2024 Christmas Tour, I am now uploading these reviews as part of a 2025 Christmas Tour, all intended to get my archives completed while giving new subscribers a chance to experience older reviews on a measured basis.
But if you'd rather just start from the original beginning, visit this post and follow the “Next (all sections) ➡️” links at the end of each post, until you arrive at this one, where that link will be dead, until I upload the next post from our text group archives 😉. When the next post is not yet available, there will be a link to the post that is “Next Available, skipping over text group posts not yet uploaded ➡️”
The first post to Substack after the current “Text Group Gaps” of posts I have not yet uploaded can be found here. From this post, following the “Next (all sections) ➡️” links will bring you all the way to the most current post.
This note will disappear when the next text group post is added, and this review takes its rightful spot in our archives. For now, I hope you enjoyed this look into Christmas past!
Text Group Comment:
W: Yes, we just watched it this year for the first time—felt similarly!
Reaction: 🩷 from Rick Retro