Hmm, Karin here, I was reading Day 4 & Day 5, and realized that I've never actually seen Love Actually, and that I clearly want to be on Kaity's desert island, because The Muppets Christmas Carol was one of my top two choices of Christmas Island films for the very reasons that she gave.
However, the other contender for my favorite all-time Holiday-themed movie, and one that we've enjoyed every year for over two decades is a famed Jimmy Stewart classic. It has romance, and drama, gossip, and trouble at work.
No, it's not the one I know you're thinking of, though that one is a wonderful film. I'm talking about the 1940 movie that was the inspiration for You've Got Mail known as The Shop Around the Corner (see trailer here).
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch and written by Samson Raphaelson, and starring the delightfully smart antagonist to Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan. The film centers on Alfred Kralik (Stewart) and Klara Novak (Sullivan), two employees at Hugo Matuschek's gift shop in Budapest. Though Alfred and Klara clash in person, they're unknowingly falling in love as one another's anonymous pen pals.
You would recognize some of the other characters of the supporting cast, such as Mr. Matuschek, played by Frank Morgan (known for his role as the wizard in Wizard of Oz. Kralik's coworkers at Matuschek and Company include his friend, Pirovitch (Felix Bressart), a kindly family man; Ferencz Vadas (Joseph Schildkraut), a two-faced womanizer; saleswoman Ilona Novotny (Inez Courtney); clerk Flora Kaczek (Sara Haden); and Pepi Katona (William Tracy), an ambitious, precocious delivery boy.
I love me a good vintage rom-com, especially when the characters have many obstacles (including themselves) between them. I hope you will take a little time this holiday season to watch this heartwarming film. You can rent it for $2.99 on Amazon Prime Video, or on Youtube.
This classic romantic Christmas dramedy was also selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
This year we also have a beautiful boutique of our own handmade goods available to be shipped or picked up locally. Use coupon code LOCALPICKUP to save the shipping and then we can coordinate pick up.