Christmas in Connecticut

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Christmas in Connecticut

One of theatrical release posters
Directed by Peter Godfrey
Produced by William Jacobs
Written by Lionel Houser
Adele Comandini
Aileen Hamilton (story)
Starring Barbara Stanwyck
Dennis Morgan
Sydney Greenstreet
Music by Frederick Hollander
Cinematography Carl E. Guthrie
Editing by Frank Magee
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates August 11, 1945 (1945-08-11)
Running time 102 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $3 million[1]

Christmas in Connecticut is a 1945 American Christmas film and romantic comedy directed by Peter Godfrey, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, and Sydney Greenstreet.[2]

Plot

Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) is a single food writer living in New York whose fictional articles about her Connecticut farm with her husband and baby are admired by housewives across the country. Her publisher, Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet), is unaware of the charade and convinces Elizabeth to host a Christmas dinner for returning war hero Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan). Facing not only being fired but her editor Dudley Beecham (Robert Shayne) also losing his job, she agrees. In desperation, Elizabeth agrees to marry her friend John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner), who has a farm in Connecticut, even though she has never loved him. She also enlists the help of her friend and chef Felix Bassenak (S.Z. Sakall), who has been providing her with recipes for her articles.

Barbara Stanwyck as Elizabeth Lane in Christmas in Connecticut

At Sloan's picturesque Connecticut farm, Elizabeth meets Nora (Una O'Connor), the housemaid, and a neighbor's baby that they will pretend is their baby. Planning to marry immediately, Elizabeth goes upstairs to freshen up, just as Judge Crothers (Dick Elliott) arrives. However the ceremony is interrupted when Jefferson arrives. Together Jefferson and Elizabeth take care of the baby and then after dinner spend time together in the barn, and they soon fall in love.

When the judge returns on Christmas the following day, Sloan and Elizabeth hurry into the library. The ceremony is postponed a second time when the neighbor's baby, a completely different child from the day before, swallows Felix's watch. After the judge leaves, Felix admits to Elizabeth that he had lied about the watch to stop the wedding. That night, the baby's real mother arrives to pick up her baby. As she is leaving, she is seen by Yardley who thinks someone is kidnapping the baby. He sounds the alarm by calling the police and newspapers. Elizabeth and Jones return to the farm early the next morning, after spending the night in jail. They wake up the sleeping reporters. Yardley chastises Elizabeth for being out all night and not caring about her missing baby. Elizabeth finally comes clean. Furious, Mr. Yardley fires her.

Felix entices Yardley into the kitchen with the smell of cooking kidneys. He fabricates a story about a competing magazine's attempts to hire Elizabeth, and Yardley decides to hire her back at double her salary. Felix then goes and tells Jones about Mary Lee breaking their engagement. Elizabeth is packing when first Yardley and then Jones go in to talk with her. The couple kiss, agreeing to get married.[2]

Cast

Remake

In 1992, a remake of Christmas in Connecticut was made, starring Dyan Cannon as Elizabeth, Kris Kristofferson as Jefferson Jones, and Tony Curtis as Mr. Yardley. The made-for-TV movie, which first aired on TNT, was directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also made a cameo as the man sitting in front of the media truck. In this remake, Elizabeth "Blane" is the hostess of her own cooking show. When her manager, Alexander Yardley, introduces her to Jefferson Jones—a forest ranger who lost his cabin in a fire—he asks her to make Jones Christmas dinner live on her show. As in the original, Elizabeth isn't as talented as she seems. This version was not as well-received as the original. As one critic wrote, "You'll be hungry for a better movie after suffering through this film."[2][3]

References

  1. ↑ Thomas Schatz, Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940s Uni of California Press, 1999 p 229
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 IMDB "Christmas in Connecticut". Retrieved 13 November 2011. 
  3. ↑ Null, Christopher. Film Critic "Christmas in Connecticut". Retrieved 13 November 2011. 

External links

Remake
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