To Do: Watch all the old classic movies I've always intended to see but have still come thus far without actually sitting down and watching. Sometimes I avoid old movies unassociated with any childhood nostalgia because nostalgia doubles the fun of anything and old movies can be boring. Or I avoid certain other ones because my favorite movie stars are old in them (Barkleys of Broadway still looms...). There are always reasons. Anyway, the time has come NOW to confront the classics I always turn away. (Some, as I will eventually learn, for good reason.)
First in the experiment: The Shop Around the Corner.
Starring: James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch (1940)
Bad: I don't get Margaret Sullavan. I just don't. No chemistry, no charm, and her character was a bitch who failed to turn sympathetic despite the demands of the plot.
Good: The first movie to make me love Jimmy Stewart! He's always been kind of standard and bland to me - I prefer the dark and attractive men of classic cinema, rough around the edges, not-quite-gentlemanly et cetera, and I mean who looks good next to Dana Andrews, right? Especially ol' pie-face. But Shop made me like him. He was sweet and sincere and for some reason I found it endearing this time rather than yawn-inducing (maybe a reaction against Mags?). Also, his passionate declaration in the movie's final scene made it into my vault of favorite heart-fluttering lines:
"You know what I wish would happen? When your bell rings at eight o’clock tonight, and you open the door, instead of Popkin, I come in. And I say, 'Klara, darling' - Klara, my dearest sweetheart, I can't stand it any longer. Take your key and open post office box 237 and take me out of my envelope and kiss me."
I swear I teared up when I heard it. Don't know why. Must be the sentimentalist buried deep, deep within.
Anyway, I was underwhelmed given its iconic status in the annals of romantic comedies, but at least it succeeded in opening my eyes to the appeal of Apple Pie.
Stars: 3 of 5
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