Review of Christmas in Connecticut (1945) by Jacob M — 06 Sep 2013

Those expecting a gigantically zany comedy will be disappointed, because the merry "Christmas in Connecticut" more than anything, is a feel-good, light-as-a-feather experience that isn't ever necessarily laugh-out-loud funny film, but more of a sweet, Hallmark coated one.  It isn't anything new, and you can see the clichés from a mile away, but "Christmas in Connecticut" is so nice in its spirit that you cannot say anything too bad about it.

For such a conventional movie, it doesn't have a conventional plot, for the time anyway. Surviving a shipwreck in the war, and waiting in a raft for eighteen-days, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) finally arrives at a hospital, where bad news strikes: he is told that he won't be able to have solid food for about a week. After learning that the nurses will do favors for you if you pretend to love them, Jefferson attempts it after reading the articles of Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck), a Martha Stewart type who makes a living off of writing delicious recipes and homemaking tips.

Jefferson's mouth-waters every time he reads her entries, and after buttering up a nurse (Joyce Compton) to write a letter to the editor of the paper (Sydney Greenstreet), he gets the opportunity to have Elizabeth cook Christmas dinner for him at her farm in Connecticut.

As it turns out though, Elizabeth isn't a homemaker at all. Nor does she live in a farm in Connecticut. In reality, she lives in a small apartment in New York, isn't married, and can't cook to save her life; she's had her chef friend Felix (S.Z. Sakall) write the recipes for her. So when she's informed that she is to host dinner for Jefferson, she panics.

Lucky for her, an arrogant architect, John Sloan (Reginald Carter) owns a farm in Connecticut, and he's asked her to marry him several times -- automatically, she heads over there, with Felix in tow. She ends up taking care of a townsperson's baby, which ends the knowledge that she has a child, and she pretends that she's married to Sloan. But when Jefferson arrives, she falls head over heels in love with him. To make things worse, her editor invites himself over for Christmas as well. What ever shall she do?

If TV was a big deal in the 1940s, "Christmas in Connecticut" would have been a perfect TV-movie.  It's not hard to picture the film on a small, black-and-white television with a family huddled around it on Christmas Eve.  But alas, it was theatrically released during winter, and that most likely was good enough for most audiences.  Either way, there isn't a reason why not to watch "Christmas in Connecticut" during the holidays.  It doesn't require a lot of brain power, and has a sort of infectious glitz that gives you a hint of movie-homed dopamine.

The romance isn't believable of course, but Morgan is charismatic and handsome, and Stanwyck does an excellent job livening things up.  Just a year after the massive success of "Double Indemnity," this film certainly isn't in the same category of brilliant, but either way, Stanwyck shines once again.  And with a terrific supporting cast in its favor -- including the booming Greenstreet and Sakall, who gives a scene-stealing performance -- there is a lot going for it.

Ultimately, "Christmas in Connecticut" is nothing special, but it isn't a waste of time.  It's so gosh darn adorable (I mean that in the most intelligent way possible) that there probably isn't a chance you won't enjoy it.