Joyeux Noël dans le Connecticut

This lightweight but pleasant holiday feature makes the most out of a pretty slim premise, thanks to a solid cast and some resourceful writing. Not meant to be taken very seriously, it provides easygoing entertainment with some simple but upbeat themes.

Barbara Stanwyck was an interesting choice as the lead, and she makes it work well enough. The premise of Stanwyck's writer character trying to fool everyone and maintain her image is more suited to screwball comedy than to a holiday feature, but the tone is kept light and funny while having just enough of the holiday atmosphere to be believable. The supporting cast helps out, with the likes of "Cuddles" Sakall and Sydney Greenstreet getting some good moments.

This kind of light but worthwhile feature is not as easy as it looks - as witness the string of crass, barely watchable holiday features of recent years. While hardly anything deep or brilliant, "Christmas in Connecticut" holds up well enough to be among the more enjoyable movies of its kind.

This is a screwball comedy disguised as a Christmas movie. I almost prefer Barbara Stanwyck in this than in the Lady Eve. She is a bit less restrained, a bit warmer. She moves with ease in an almost all male cast. The holiday theme is almost incidental, it definitely takes a sideline to the charade in the house of her being a domestic goddess. Barbara Stanwyck carries the movie right through to the end. Her extra slim figure is pleasing in very simply tailored clothes. Your heart almost sinks for her when she is going to be married to the very droll architect. The actual farm setting is fun and makes it more believable. Not very well known, but not to be missed.

Christmas In Connecticut is, in my estimation, one of the most breezy, runaway joys to have reached the screen. Controversially, I find it plays out better than many other Christmas movies like It's A Wonderful Life. Christmas is a time to be merry and happy, to feel the warmth and cosiness of one's comfortable physical and human surroundings amid the cold harsh winter outside. This movie, through superbly acted characters, achieves just this.

The movie is unabashedly a joyous comedy which does not feel constrained to representing reality with some moments of sentimentality. The rich atmosphere it creates from its talented cast achieves just that. Sydney Greenstreets performance is just fantastic, playing a newspaper mogul whose authority and confidence means he does not know how to shut up and listen to people. This character trait of him is played for laughs, endearing the audience with him. Barbra stanwyck is also pitch perfect as the flustered writer who now has to navigate cobwebs of lies she spun herself. S Z Sakall is also exquisite as her well meaning friend. He steals the scenes which he is in, playing matchmaker for our two leads, and his character oozes loads of likeability. We all wish we really did have an uncle like him. Part of the great fun of this film is, inevitably watching how Stanwycks Lane has to navigate the web of lies she has spun for herself, and this plays out delightfully. The schemes and plots through which Sakall helps postpone the imminent wedding is also funny. The only complaint however is that the film is of course predictable and formulaic- the old romcom formula of having two leads separated, then reunited is adhered to stringently here. But that shan't be too much of a deterrent especially for a Christmas film, for it is the process by which out two leads are pulled apart and get back together we are interested in, and this process is delectably charming in this film. Christmas in Connecticut is a pleasantly breezy film that takes its place among the great Christmas films, and it warms the cockles of the heart- the cure for a lonely Christmas.

This Christmas gift arrived courtesy of TCM. We had never seen the film, even though we have seen most of the films of Barbara Stanwyck. This comedy made us laugh so much, that at times, we had to restrain ourselves, in order to hear the dialog.

This is a movie that should be seen by people suffering from stressful situations, especially around Christmas. It would certainly lift one's spirits by just letting go. The movie would make a perfect gift in the form of a DVD, or a VHS tape.

"Christmas in Connecticut" was directed with great panache by Peter Godfrey, based on a story by Aileen Hamilton.

The best thing in the movie is the felicitous pairing of two of the most popular stars of that era: Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan. Barbara Stanwyck always played strong willed women, obviously, this was a change of pace for her. In this film, as well as "Lady Eve", Ms. Stanwyck displays a knack for comedy. She and Mr. Morgan, who played in a lot of musical comedies, make a winning combination.

There are no weak performances in the film. Sydney Greenstreet, an actor notorious for playing 'heavies', is a delight to watch as the rich, and fat, Alexander Yardley, the man who owned a media empire and who knew a good thing when he saw it. Reginald Gardiner, an accomplished English actor, adds luster to the stellar cast behind the two principals.

S. Z. Sakall, is another source of continuous mirth; he plays the Hungarian chef Felix,who has a hard time with his own version of the English language. Also, Una O'Connor makes a perfect Norah, the housekeeper in the Sloan perfect Connecticut farm.

In reading other comments in this forum, it's sad to learn that the glorious black and white cinematography is not appreciated by some people. After all, color was not widely used in the 40s, and most of the classic movies have to be seen in its original format because, what would be accomplished in 'coloring' them?

This film should be a requirement for anyone looking to spend almost two hours of uninterrupted fun at Christmas time because total merriment is assured. Watch it with an open mind and heart an maybe you'd like to see "Christmas in Connecticut" every year.

This romantic comedy stars Barbara Stanwyck as Elizabeth Lane, a woman who writes a lifestyles column for a popular magazine. Her publisher commands that she host and prepare a dinner for Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan), a sailor who was lost at sea for eighteen days. Because Miss Lane's own lifestyle is a literary fabrication, she resorts to an elaborate ruse. Her deception has consequences that complicate matters, leading to both romance and comedy.

There is a strong supporting cast, including "Cuddles" Sakall and Sidney Greenstreet, who is fun to watch in a comedic role.

Stanwyck and Morgan display a convincing chemistry that is the focus of the film.