Christmas in July (1940)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Preston Sturges

Writer:

Preston Sturges (written by)

Release Date:

18 October 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

If you can't sleep at night, it isn't the coffee - it's the bunk!

Plot:

An office clerk loves entering contests in the hopes of someday winning a fortune and marrying the girl he loves...

Plot Keywords:

Writer Director | Contest | Office | Radio | Advertising

Cast

Dick Powell	...	Jimmy MacDonald
Ellen Drew	...	Betty Casey
Raymond Walburn	...	Dr. Maxford
Alexander Carr	...	Mr. Shindel
William Demarest	...	Mr. Bildocker
Ernest Truex	...	Mr. J.B. Baxter
Franklin Pangborn	...	Don Hartman (radio announcer)
Harry Hayden	...	Mr. E.L. Waterbury (office manager)
Rod Cameron	...	Dick (co-worker)
Adrian Morris	...	Tom Darcy (co-worker) (as Michael Morris)
Harry Rosenthal	...	Harry (co-worker)
Georgia Caine	...	Mrs. Ellen MacDonald
Ferike Boros	...	Mrs. Schwartz
Torben Meyer	...	Mr. Schmidt
Julius Tannen	...	Mr. Zimmerman

Also Known As:

Das Große Los (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Colpo di fortuna, Un (Italy) [it]
Gros lot, Le (France) [fr]
Jul i juli (Sweden) [sv]
Navidades en julio (Spain) [es]
Sommerjul (Denmark) [da]
Tyheros, O (Greece) [el]
Weihnachten im Juli (West Germany) [de]

Runtime:

USA:67 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #6414) | UK:U

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

Jimmy MacDonald: It'll be kinda hard to face that... gang, tomorrow morning from behind a desk.
Mr. J.B. Baxter: It would be just as hard to face them from in here, if you didn't *belong* here - uneasy lies the head...
Betty Casey: He *does* belong in here, Mr. Baxter.
Mr. J.B. Baxter: Now what is the joke this time?
Betty Casey: He belongs in here because he thinks he belongs in here, because he thinks he...
Mr. J.B. Baxter: Oh, that's all very deep dish and high fallutin', but from a practical...
Betty Casey: It is practical, Mr. Baxter. It's the most practical idea you ever had. He belongs in here because he thinks he has ideas. He belongs in here until he proves himself or fails and... then... someone else belongs in here until he prove himself or fails and somebody else after that and somebody else after him and so on and so on for always. Oh... I don't know how to... put it into words like Jimmy could, but... all he wanted, all any of them want is a - is a chance to show - to find out what got while they're still young and burning like a short cut or a stepping stone. Oh, I know they're not gonna succeed, at least most of them won't, they'll all be like Mr. Waterbury soon enough, most of them, anyway. But they won't mind it. They'll find something else, and they'll be happy, because they had their chance. Because it's one thing to muff a chance once you've had it... it's another thing never to have had a chance. His name's already on the door.
Mr. J.B. Baxter: [looking to the door] Well, if anything decided me. That would be it.
Betty Casey: Mr. Baxter
[smiling joyously]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Radio Days (1987)

A treat any time of the year.

Could this be one of Preston Sturges's most profound comedies?

In addition to being one of the funniest and most underappreciated. In "Sullivan's Travels," Preston Sturges has the

Joel McCrea character speak admiringly of fellow director Frank

Capra. In "Christmas in July" possibly Sturges was trying to teach

Capra how to handle sentiment without falling into sentimentality --

the scene where Dick Powell is handing out presents to his

neighbors, and he gives a doll to a crippled girl in a wheelchair --

a remarkably tender moment in the midst of a hectic scene -- done

with just the right touch, One of my favorite lines occurs when

bug-eyed Raymond Walburn sarcastically tells contest-winner

Powell, "I can't wait to give you my money!" Sturges also shows

that you can have plot complications without resorting to villains --

no Capraesque class warfare here -- rich and poor are equally

lovable -- even gruff William Demarest.