Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

In Christmas in Connecticut, a Martha-Stewart-style columnist is actually a fraud, grinding out columns from her city apartment, who is suddenly asked by her boss to throw a Christmas dinner in the farm she doesn't actually own.That's a really clever idea for a movie, and I had a good feeling about it when I was googling for Christmas films I'd never seen, but alas, the experience was underwhelming. While the cast list is impressive, the script is weak and nonsensical and the direction is lackluster. I rarely laughed, I felt the story was full of holes, I thought one character was treated pretty shabbily just because he was boring, and I found the constant duplicity extreme even by the standards of 40s comedies, particularly since no lie ever catches up with anyone.The movie also didn't have a strong Christmasy feel to it.There was one thing though that, in the context of a 1945 movie, is rather wondrous. There are two very very minor roles by black actors, a delivery person and a waiter or busboy. And the actors are allowed to be normal, with none of the "Yas ma'ams" and dopey remarks typical of the period. In fact, the waitstaff guy gives a dictionary definition of a long word, which makes him one of the smarter people in the movie. The number of Hollywood movies that portray African-Americans as normal human beings is so vanishingly small that I'm always excited to discover one. Outside of that, though, I didn't enjoy this movie.My girlfriend, on the other hand, kinda liked it.

Barbara Stanwyck (Mrs Lane) is a popular journalist on Sydney Greenstreet's (Yardley) magazine who specializes in homely life articles from her farm in Connecticut with her husband and baby. She also tops the charts when it comes to her recipes. War hero Dennis Morgan (Jeff) wins an opportunity to spend Christmas at her farm courtesy of Greenstreet who also invites himself along. How nice. Except Stanwyck is a fraud. She can't cook, she doesn't live on a farm, she doesn't live in Connecticut, she hasn't got a baby and she hasn't got a husband. And she doesn't want to get busted so she needs help to keep up the pretence… This has a good premise for comedic situations and Stanwyck is funny in her role, especially when it comes to her baby etiquette. However, there are too many misunderstandings that need resolving and so we regretfully fall into a madcap zany, screwball comedy that gets tedious. By the end of the film you have been willing things to resolve themselves for at least 20 minutes and it has also become complicated. They didn't need so many things going wrong and opportunities for better comedic situations weren't explored as much as they could have been, for example, the arrival of a different baby. That could have been very funny. But, the film became poorly written. Characters also started to grate, especially Uncle SZ Sakall (Felix). He has that cuddly image but he is just annoying.There are funny moments, more so at the beginning as you set out with the film, but I'm afraid the film gets boring. I read one reviewer who said that this film reminded him of "Holiday Inn" (1942) only this was funnier. What!!?? He is obviously completely bonkers. Watch "Holiday Inn" every time over "Christmas In Connecticut".

Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) is a single NYC food writer who is famous for her articles about her fictional Connecticut farm and family. She doesn't know how to cook. Her friend chef Felix Bassenak (S.Z. Sakall) gives her the recipes. The publisher Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) insists that Elizabeth host a Christmas dinner for returning war hero Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan). Her editor Dudley Beecham (Robert Shayne) fears being exposed. In desperation, Elizabeth reluctantly agrees to a loveless marriage to the insistent John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner) and somehow get a baby before the dinner.The story is rather boring until Stanwyck starts faking in Connecticut. The war hero isn't very compelling. Dennis Morgan is not that special as a leading man. It takes awhile for the movie to set up the premise and there are no good jokes in that section. The loveless marriage is kinda sad. The movie finally gets to Connecticut after 30 minutes and it takes awhile for the comedy to pick up. Stanwyck has some fun as she fakes a modern-day Martha Stewart starting with changing the baby.

This is a film that truly and nostalgically shows us the America of the 1940's, even as the two great supporting actors, Sydney Greenstreet and S. Z. Sakall hailed from Europe, and the screenplay co-author's parents had gone through Ellis Island. Now for a detail or two. The address of Felix's restaurant was carefully presented as was often the norm at that time: 1. The 300 block is too far away from Fifth avenue. 2. We are not shown if this is East or West from Fifth avenue. 3. The better restaurants are usually in the 50's, not the 40's. That way, you might not be forlornly looking for it. Later on, perhaps for financial reasons, Barbara Stanwyck appeared in a TV western, whatever it was, and so younger viewers may not always know what a great actress she was during the 1940's, the golden age. After seeing this, you might even be wondering, why don't we occasionally have horses and buggies anymore?