recommended

Good start, but then it gets ruined

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Plot: Pen pals fall in love on paper and (unwittingly) battle each other at work, with music! Drive-in Rating: Pull over and watch! Absolutely enjoyable and mostly faithful to the original of 1940, now located in Chicago and with the added perk of Judy Garland in song (and dance). For the modern viewer, this may be an easier transition to the original plot than the black and white original, "The Shop Around the Corner." Also recommend considering which star is a bigger draw for you (Judy or Jimmy Stewart). If you've enjoyed "Meet Me in St. Louis," odds are you'll enjoy this, though Meet Me… is far more acclaimed. This version gives you the added benefit of silent movie great Buster Keaton (yes, he talks) and dashing all-American leading man Van Johnson.

This affable film is a musical remake of Ernst Lubitsch's 1940 classic "The Shop Around the Corner." Though actually it's not so much a musical as it is a movie with some songs added, nearly all of them performed by Judy Garland, who happens to be the best reason for seeing this movie at all.Lubitsch's film is, of course, perfect in every way and needed no remaking, but if someone had to remake it, they could have done a worse job than this. Garland is delightful in the role originated by Margaret Sullavan, and Van Johnson makes a surprisingly strong stand-in for James Stewart (and even sounds remarkably like him at times). Instead of a curio shop, the action takes place in a music store, which provides more opportunities for spontaneous singing. This film is nowhere near as dark as the original, and one of the best parts of the Lubitsch version, the subplot involving the store's owner, is pretty much written right out of this version.The title doesn't make a lick of sense, since nearly the entire film is set during Christmas. I guess "In the Good Old Wintertime" didn't have the same ring to it.Grade: A-

This film is the color version of Shop Around The Corner black & white which featured Jimmy Stewart. The differences are a mature Judy Garland, a decent performance from Van Johnson, and more. The film is well directed including some direction by stone face Buster Keaton.Actually this is one of Van Johnson's better screen performances. This might be thanks to Keaton who was at that time teaching Lucille Ball comedy too. Johnson is actually pretty good here. So is Judy Garland as she shines in her musical numbers. I only wish more newer numbers were written for this picture as some of the older ones while well done seem worn by the late 1940's.Still, it is so rare and so exciting to see Judy in prime time color. The story does get a little confused though as even though her and Van Johnson are in love by letter, the sparks between them never really seem to hit the screen in a physical way that well.Van Johnson would continue his association with Keaton & Lucy including getting into television as early as 1957 because of Lucy while the other, Van Heflin, turned down being Elliot Ness on the Untouchables. Johnson ran up quite a string of television credits before retiring. Seeing the work of Johnson in this film shows he did take some advice from Keaton as this is his best comedy performance on film. Good thing his wife wasn't on the set.

One can only assume that Robert Osborne is contractually obligated to express delight at even the least appealing films in the TCM library as this would explain him extolling the 'virtues' of this "charming" film during his introduction when I saw this on cable TV. Seeing as any old film on IMDb receives 'classic' status from a number of fawning amateur reviewers, I thought there was a dire need for a more honest review of this film.This is not your father's 'Shop Around the Corner'. For all my quibbles with 'You've Got Mail', it still outshines this as a remake in just about every way imaginable. For those who have seen the original, the flaws will only be all the more obvious.From one of the lamest Meet Cute sequences I can recall seeing (a sad slapstick attempt at 'humor'), this film gets off on the wrong foot and it never really gets back in step. This 'musical' only qualifies as one in the sparsest sense of the term. There are a sprinkling of instantly forgettable musical numbers and then there's Judy singing "I Don't Care" while flailing her arms around as if in a seizure. The Christmas song she sings in the store is probably one of her better numbers here. Miss Garland was wonderful in a number of musical films, but here she seems horribly miscast. The role was originally to have been filled by June Allyson and Judy is definitely unable to fill the shoes of Margaret Sullavan's old part. Van Johnson also turns in a rather bland performance as a second rate Jimmy Stewart type. The leads never achieve the chemistry of Stewart/Sullavan or even that of Hanks/Ryan.This is a film that knows (some of) the notes, but not the music. It doesn't really seem to understand why the original worked and even feels the need to add another possible love interest for Van Johnson's character to complicate things unnecessarily. The remake's substitution for the original's infidelity subplot is a hackneyed plot device involving a priceless violin. It is almost embarrassing to watch and feels as if it had perhaps been lifted from an episode of Three's Company by someone with a DeLorean and a flux capacitor. It's really just an excuse for a Keaton pratfall. Even the big resolution scene between the romantic leads is mishandled. After seeing both films, you'll understand why they called it 'the Lubitsch Touch' and NOT the 'Robert Z. Leonard Touch'.Avoid this and rewatch either the original film or one of Judy Garland's earlier films unless you're an iconoclast who enjoys seeing a once great star falling down to earth.