Finally, I get a chance to watch my favorite Christmas movie. Or one of the top five, at least.
I can't say this is a great movie, but I find it very sweet. I love the mix of accents, none of them Hungarian (or maybe one), and the rather cardboard-looking back lot sets. For anyone looking, it's streaming on HBO Max, which was good news for me, because some reason I can't find my physical disc.
I think the entire cast has good chemistry, and a lot of the jokes and laughs will fly by if you're not listening closely.
Jimmy Stewart (Mr. Kralik) and Margaret Sullavan (Miss Novak) work really well together. You believe that under the irritation, they like each other, but you buy it as both reflexively deny it. There's a great scene where Kralik criticizes Novak's blouse, and she snaps back that he shouldn't be telling her what to wear; I thought that was probably pretty forward-looking for its time.
There's a lot of passive-aggressive remarks, too, that slide by, but aren't terribly mean and generally set up a punch line or two.
The conflicts are set up right away, and are more obvious on a repeat viewing (as I think it should be). The tension between Kralik and Matuschek, and Vadas and everyone, is immediately apparent. But it's also clear that things weren't always this way between Kralik and Matuschek, and that Kralik has no idea what's brought on this change in attitude. Vadas is obviously a sleaze from the start, but I think it does take a moment, especially on first viewing, to put the pieces together -- Vadas seems to be equally slimy with everyone, so while he's unlikable, I think there's enough wiggle room that the viewer could consider that he may not be the villain, so to speak.
The story is tight, and moves along at a good pace, and has a satisfying resolution, which is always good but maybe even better for a Christmas movie.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/rp3su2/watching_the_shop_around_the_corner/
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