'DELIGHTFUL' CHRISTMAS MOVIE IS LITTLE-KNOWN 'MASTERPIECE' THAT INSPIRED TOM HANKS HIT

For those in the know, The Shop Around the Corner is a Christmas classic with clever writing and star turns from Hollywood legends Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart.

They play two colleagues at a leather shop in Budapest before the First World War who can’t abide one another but who don’t realise they have been communicating via anonymous letter writing to each other - and falling in love.

Although it wasn’t an initial success when it was released in 1940, it is now considered to be a festive masterpiece and is the movie which inspired the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan blockbuster, You’ve Got Mail.

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Alfred Kralik (Stewart) is the top salesman at a leathergoods store in Budapest during the Great Depression. The staffing quota is unexpectedly increased when Klara Novak (Sullavan) walks into the shop and proves her worth by selling an item.

Meanwhile Alfred reveals to another colleague that he has been corresponding with a woman anonymously via letters after answering an ad in the newspaper. Neither he nor Klara realise that they are writing to each other, especially since they don’t get on in real life.

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, the screenplay is based on the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklós Laszlo. Despite its lukewarm commercial reception back in 1940 it received positive reviews. 

Since then it has been lauded for showing the lives of the middle classes, who were not represented at the time in film and it has also had a huge influence on other productions.

One of those is You’ve Got Mail, the 1998 movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan whose character Kathleen Kelly owns a bookstore called The Shop Around the Corner. The plot echoes the original with Kathleen unknowingly falling in love with her business rival Joe Fox (Hanks), via email.

Fans of the original aren’t surprised it’s been remade numerous times including for a Broadway musical and most recently with 2025 Prime Video film, Maintenance Required. They share their love for the pre-war movie on Rotten Tomatoes where it scores 99%. 

One wrote: "This is witty and sharp, carrying the social sensibilities of the time, with a romantic, fanciful hope, and writing in some dry humour. A holiday romance that is more enjoyable than I thought."

Another raved: "A very fun and delightful comedy that never fails to give a laugh. The Shop Around The Corner is an amazingly made film that leads with it's amazingly clever writing and is supported by the cast's stellar performances."

A third believed modern film makers could learn a thing or two from the masterpiece: "When actors and story were the key to making a movie, the stories came alive. This story today would need explosions and sex scenes, and they still couldn't get it right," they posted. 

"Watching movies like this makes me detest everything wrong with story telling today. The ensemble cast delivers a memorable Christmas Classic. This onion has many layers and they are sweet, but not syrupy."

2025-12-10T10:58:35Z