The Shop Around the Corner is a delightfully simple romantic-comedy, but the biggest crime that this film commits is insisting that a retail employee's coworkers would cry when he gets fired. Even though this was not even close to one of Jimmy Stewart's best performances, I still loved this movie for a number of reasons; the naivety of the characters and their relationships, the quick and humorous comedic timing, and the masterful setting of one shop that harbored an entire web of subplots. This film is a perfect example of one that was blatantly obviously produced during the big studio system era, but that does not distract from its ability to tell a lighthearted and engaging story.
Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan star as Alfred Kralik and Klara Novak, two employees of a small department store run by Mr. Matuschek, played by Frank Morgan. Both of them, while beginning to despise one another as coworkers, have a secret pen pal relationship with each other and are unaware that they are falling in love. This relationship is the best part of this entire film as it provides for simple but effective character developments in both of these characters. The way that they interact with each other in every scene and the emotional environment that they create is just cute - there isn't quite any other way to put it. This, of course, is aided by Stewart and Sullavan's performances as they absolutely nail their characters. This is not one of Stewart's best portrayals, but he still brought on his trademark, awkward charm to make his character so strangely lovable. The only issues that I had with this cast of characters were how stereotypical and dull the majority of them were. They interacted well but all of the supporting cast felt lazily written and I couldn't find myself attached to them at all. Even though they made for an engaging movie, I feel as though this film could have been cut down and made into a pilot for a fun TV show titled "Mr. Matuschek's".
I feel as if William H. Daniels' cinematography and Gene Ruggiero's editing had much more potential than what was given. These technical aspects were done effectively, but I did not feel like there was any passion in the creative parts of this film. This also might have to do with the small-scale setting that these characters interacted in, but I would have liked to seen more visual storytelling rather than straight dialogue the entire time. What I did love most about Samson Raphaelson's writing, though, was that it took place in a very small shop. This gave all of the relationships and character dynamics so much intimacy and definitely helped to distinguish the multiple subplots that were happening. The writing was not always incredible, however, as many of said subplots were left wide open, creating this vague feeling of incompletion. Alfred and Klara's relationship seemed to take hold as the main plot, but I feel like the side characters, unfortunately, did not get their due justice. Except for Ferencz Vadas, played by Joseph Schildkraut, who was the absolute funniest cast member and character. His comedic timing and supplementary personality was hilarious to see and made every scene he was in that much more enjoyable.
Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner is a fun and engaging romantic-comedy that accomplishes everything it sets out to do. While it may not be Stewart's best performance or even a story that is completely original, the clever writing and energetic performances make this film very sweet and entertaining.
My Rating: ★★★½
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