Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Two Geeks and a GIT Classic Movie Reviews

Just in time for the winter holidays, it's our Christmas pairing! Starting out, we travel back to 1945, right at the end of World War II, for a tale of mistaken (sometimes deliberately) identity and a rollicking screwball comedy set in the country during the holidays! Directed by Peter Godfrey, "Christmas in Connecticut" was a present to all the moviegoers of the time, weary of war pictures and serious topics, who were ready for something just... silly. Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) is a home and hearth magazine writer who comforts people across the country every week with stories from her farm in Connecticut with her husband, baby, and animals. Plus, the recipes she includes have turned her into a household name! There's only one problem: She's single, lives in an apartment in New York, and can't cook at all! But when publisher Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet, in a rare comedic role) invites a lonely GI, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) to spend a down-home family christmas with renowned homemaker Elizabeth Lane, things go sideways really quickly! Elizabeth turns to her friend and restaurant chef Felix Bassenak (S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall), who agrees to help, and the race is on to the farm of the man she is enthusiastically engaged to, architect John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner). But, as if things weren't complicated enough, when Elizabeth and Jefferson meet, sparks fly, and it's anybody's guess how it'll all turn out! Also starring Robert Shayne, Una O'Connor, Frank Jenks, Joyce Compton, and Dick Elliott!