Christmas in Connecticut (1945) - Christmas Classic Archive
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December 24th, 2013
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Spunky, fun Christmastime balderdash has popular magazine article writer Barbara Stanwyck stuck in the predicament of hosting a faux Christmas Eve/Day homemaking extravaganza for her boss (Sydney Greenstreet) and a war hero (Dennis Morgan) who survived (along with a fellow soldier/pal) on a raft on the ocean for several days without food…the problem is she isn't the amazing cook, sensational mother, and superb farm-marm that leaps from the pages of her articles. The real cook with all the gourmet dishes isn't Stanwyck but SZ Sakall from Budapest who is fortunate enough to benefit from her fame. Sakall will accompany her to a farm supplied by architect Reginald Gardiner (he is always habitually asking Stanwyck to marry him) if Stanwyck will marry him. Reluctantly, she will but her betrothal to Gardiner keeps getting delayed by Sakall who knows she doesn't love him. The child is brought by to be babysat by a mother who works at the war factory (female one day, but the next is a different worker with a male baby!), so Stanwyck (who doesn't know a thing about being a mother) must wing it, aided (much to her delight) by Morgan (he grew up with children and knows how to bath and feed them). The problem that arises for Stanwyck is that she falls head-over-heels for Morgan and must somehow steer her affections/lust for him away and focus on successfully fooling Greenstreet into believing she is actually exactly as she claims. The whole comic angle is Stanwyck masterminding this grand charade even as her behavior and heart yearn for Morgan. Greenstreet expects what he reads in her articles to be articulated in person and Stanwyck must find ways to escape. This is designed like a screwball comedy or something you might see from Preston Sturges. There's constant activity, evasive maneuvers, close-calls, daunting tasks demanding think-on-your-feet (or just plain luck) responses, lots of wooing and romanticizing, and unexpected developments (baby is "kidnapped" by his actual mom much to Greenstreet's dismay; the male-female baby change; Greenstreet expecting Stanwyck to "skillet a flapjack" in his presence; the "theft" of a horse carriage that lands Morgan and Stanwyck temporarily under arrest) that complicate matters further. Stanwyck had a magnetic screen presence even in films like this that feel like holiday, feel-good fodder, perhaps considered a notch or two behind the Lady Eves and Ball of Fires, but I thought "Christmas in Connecticut" would be easy to go down with some eggnog and cookies. It has that holiday atmosphere (the farm is idyllic and snowy, the house is elegant, there's the decoration of the gigantic Christmas tree, the piano-played carol, and the cast are breezy and fun to watch). When you are needing something Christmassy for a night in December, this is as entertaining a film as I could recommend…it has all the ingredients without schmaltz or melodramatics.
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December 24th, 2013
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Spunky, fun Christmastime balderdash has popular magazine article writer Barbara Stanwyck stuck in the predicament of hosting a faux Christmas Eve/Day homemaking extravaganza for her boss (Sydney Greenstreet) and a war hero (Dennis Morgan) who survived (along with a fellow soldier/pal) on a raft on the ocean for several days without food…the problem is she isn't the amazing cook, sensational mother, and superb farm-marm that leaps from the pages of her articles. The real cook with all the gourmet dishes isn't Stanwyck but SZ Sakall from Budapest who is fortunate enough to benefit from her fame. Sakall will accompany her to a farm supplied by architect Reginald Gardiner (he is always habitually asking Stanwyck to marry him) if Stanwyck will marry him. Reluctantly, she will but her betrothal to Gardiner keeps getting delayed by Sakall who knows she doesn't love him. The child is brought by to be babysat by a mother who works at the war factory (female one day, but the next is a different worker with a male baby!), so Stanwyck (who doesn't know a thing about being a mother) must wing it, aided (much to her delight) by Morgan (he grew up with children and knows how to bath and feed them). The problem that arises for Stanwyck is that she falls head-over-heels for Morgan and must somehow steer her affections/lust for him away and focus on successfully fooling Greenstreet into believing she is actually exactly as she claims. The whole comic angle is Stanwyck masterminding this grand charade even as her behavior and heart yearn for Morgan. Greenstreet expects what he reads in her articles to be articulated in person and Stanwyck must find ways to escape. This is designed like a screwball comedy or something you might see from Preston Sturges. There's constant activity, evasive maneuvers, close-calls, daunting tasks demanding think-on-your-feet (or just plain luck) responses, lots of wooing and romanticizing, and unexpected developments (baby is "kidnapped" by his actual mom much to Greenstreet's dismay; the male-female baby change; Greenstreet expecting Stanwyck to "skillet a flapjack" in his presence; the "theft" of a horse carriage that lands Morgan and Stanwyck temporarily under arrest) that complicate matters further. Stanwyck had a magnetic screen presence even in films like this that feel like holiday, feel-good fodder, perhaps considered a notch or two behind the Lady Eves and Ball of Fires, but I thought "Christmas in Connecticut" would be easy to go down with some eggnog and cookies. It has that holiday atmosphere (the farm is idyllic and snowy, the house is elegant, there's the decoration of the gigantic Christmas tree, the piano-played carol, and the cast are breezy and fun to watch). When you are needing something Christmassy for a night in December, this is as entertaining a film as I could recommend…it has all the ingredients without schmaltz or melodramatics.
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