BEFORE: It's an easy link from Cary Grant to Jimmy Stewart via "The Philadelphia Story" - and as a bonus, last night's film was referenced in a Meg Ryan film ("Sleepless in Seattle") and this one was remade as a Meg Ryan film ("You've Got Mail").
The original plan was to watch "An Affair to Remember" for Valentine's Day, but I had to re-work my schedule, and I think this may work out even better. Looking back on my V-Day choices for the past few years, in 2009 I watched "Chocolat", so connecting back to that chocolate shop with another film about people working in a store seems fitting.
TCM is spending the day in romantic Italy, how appropriate. "Two Women", "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone", "Indiscretion of an American Wife", "Summertime" and "Romeo and Juliet" all seem to fit a common theme, in addition to being geographically similar. ("A Farewell to Arms" and "The Bicycle Thief", not so much) But I'm only picking up "A Room With a View", which should pair nicely on a DVD with "A Passage to India", since they're both adaptations of E.M. Forster novels.
THE PLOT: Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realizing that they're falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.
AFTER: Yeah, I liked this one quite a bit, despite the fact that it's in black-and-white, set in Hungary, and the lead actress also follows the "say all your lines very quickly" school of acting. Detailing the private lives of clerks and salespeople in a small menswear/gift store. Some of the characters were such broad stereotypes that at times it reminded me of the BBC comedy "Are You Being Served?".
But, we're here to see two people fall in love through correspondence. And dramatic irony demands that the two people also know each other in the real world, and are often at odds with each other, thus increasing the shock value when the veil is finally revealed. Of course WE the audience realize it quite early, because we're privy to all of their private conversations.
It's not really mistaken identity (though there is a bit of that in this film as well), but more about how one can idealize a romantic partner, without noticing the person who is right under their nose, or working very closely with them. Here the two lovers connect intellectually via correspondence, while debating what the other person looks like, or whether that even matters.
I like the process depicted here, because it gets into the HOW and WHY of two people falling in love, unlike some recent films that settled for just the WHO. And sorry, "An Affair to Remember", but two people ordering the same cocktail from the ship's bar does not mean they're connecting intellectually.
Once one of the prospective lovebirds realizes the other's identity, it's pretty much delay, delay, delay until the right moment at the end of the film - but at least the other twists and turns, like the shopowner's marital troubles, were interesting enough to fill the necessary time.
When I was in the third grade, I left little "secret admirer" notes in a classmate's desk - but once she figured out who was doing it, I denied everything. I simply had no plan for what would come next, which made for an awkward time at school until the teacher decided to re-arrange the desks. Many years later, I met my wife through the e-mail, so this is a topic that speaks to me. I understand now what it means to connect through correspondence, and then transfer that connection to the real world.
It doesn't matter how two people meet, it only matters what comes after - so I thank my wife for what came after, putting up with me for 15-plus years, which includes a good number of Valentine's Days.
Starring James Stewart (last seen in "The Philadelphia Story"), Margaret Sullavan, and Frank Morgan, most famous for playing the title role (and several others) in "The Wizard of Oz".
RATING: 6 out of 10 music boxes
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