It seems silly to say something like "The Shop Around the Corner is my new favorite movie of 1940!" on account of ---well, movies from 1940 are not "new" ...but it's true all the same. Even if it's old it's new to me (somehow I hadn't seen it). And besides, Ernst Lubitsch is such a superb director that his movies don't get old even as they age. They're so light on their feet, so keyed into their own sense of humor that they stay young and fresh. new. old. old. new...'psychologically, I'm very confused. but personally I don't feel bad at all.'
The Shop Around the Corner has got a charming array of supporting players and running gags. The plot spins on shockingly undated notions about the way people both project and believe idealized versions of themselves and strangers when anonymity is a factor. Letters play the major communication role here and it's easy to see why Nora Ephron thought it a natural transfer to the internet age for You've Got Mail (1998). I can't rave enough about Margaret Sullavan and Jimmy Stewart who are both sly and dazzling as the arrogant coworkers who haven't realized they're in love. The eternal romantic comedy notion that instant hate = secret love has never been my favorite cliché but Sullavan and Stewart make it work by serving up fully realized people, both charming and prickly.
There's so much to recommend it I just have to shout "see it!" or "see it again!" as the case may be.
