The Shop Around the Corner

Budapest in the mid-30s during the festive season. At the leather goods shop Matuschek and Company, the mood is tense: there’s money missing in the cash register, company head Matuschek suspects his best salesperson Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) of having an affair with his wife, and Kralik and newly employed staff member Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) are annoying one another—unaware that they’re also exchanging romantic letters about the beauty of literature. Their first planned rendezvous is stymied by Matuschek, who forces both of them to work overtime, but on Christmas Eve, the happy ending finally arrives. (hjf)