The Shop Around The Corner (1 Viewer)

[Ted Todorov]

I just got a chance to watch the new DVD of Ernst Lubitsch's 1940 film The Shop Around The Corner and couldn't recommend it more highly.
The film is absolutely great. Scintillating dialog, great acting, wonderful characters, great humor, romance, it's all there! This definitely falls into the "they don't make them like this any more" category. One just needs to watch the relatively lame You've Got Mail remake to get that point. It is hard to single out any of the performances as they are uniformly great, but in the staring role Jimmy Stewart is just perfect, keeping his mannerisms in check, and absolutely inhabiting his character. William Tracy steals numerous scenes as Pepi, the stock boy, including the absolutely priceless one where he puts a pompous psychiatrist in his place. The dialog in general has so much more bite than anything on view these days.
The DVD itself is outstanding -- the picture is absolutely outstanding considering the age of the film. Apart from some judder during the opening credits, I couldn't see a single problem.
The sound is just about perfect as well. Often it seems that it is easier to fix the picture of an old film than the sound (I've noticed this problem on a number of Criterion DVDs of '30s & '40s films). Not with The Shop Around The Corner where all the dialog comes across with perfect intelligibility and the music and all else sounds great.
The only real extra was a sound film promo which I didn't watch. Yes, there is a trailer, though why people care about trailers when they have just seen the movie I'll never know.
For anyone out there who loves movies, this is a must buy DVD -- great film, great DVD, watching it is pure pleasure.
Ted

 

[Eric Peterson]

Ted,

Thanks for the review. I checked 3 different Best Buys over the weekend for this title to no avail. This looks like an online buy along with "The Thin Man"

Yes, there is a trailer, though why people care about trailers when they have just seen the movie I'll never know.

I'm not sure why, but I love to watch the trailer before watching the movie. I do this almost everytime and hate it when the trailer isn't included or when it's on a 2nd disc. My Dad is the sameway, and everytime we watch a movie together, he asks to see the trailer before we watch the movie. I guess that it helps to set the mood.

 

[Todd Phillips]

The trailer for Shop Around the Corner is actually pretty creative. The actor who plays the shopkeeper talks to the camera in character, describing the different people who work in the shop, and then he introduces the director, who comes on camera and says a few words. I enjoyed it.

 

[Brook K]

I've got it but haven't watched it yet.
I enjoy watching old trailers just out of curiosity to see how the film was marketed and also because many old trailers did a lot of interesting things that you never see in today's cookie-cutter ads, like William Powell stepping off the cover of The Thin Man novel.

 

[Roger Rollins]

Warner's DVD of "SHOP" is stunning, and an overall lovely presentation including the fun MGM Promo short of the era, and the terrific trailer (shot especially to promote the film with Frank Morgan and Lubitsch himself on camera!).

I've already watched the disc twice since I purchased it. What a classy, intelligent picture it is.

2002 has been a banner year for WB and their DVD catalog releases. After so many years with only a handful of titles coming from the company, this year we've been blessed with dozens of great classics with impeccable presentations.

I'm anxious to see what they have in store for us next year. Thanks, Warner!

 

[Ted Todorov]

many old trailers did a lot of interesting things that you never see in today's cookie-cutter ads, like William Powell stepping off the cover of The Thin Man novel.

Yes I have to say, that I agree about old trailers being much better. I used to love watching trailers, but now I dread it. I haven't seen a cool trailer in a loooong time.

I think that these days there is little to know connection between the filmmaker and the trailer(s) -- it's done by a bunch of hacks in the marketing dept. What filmmaker would willingly show you their film's entire plot? Or pretend that their dialog driven film is a silent movie so as to hide the fact that subtitles will be involved? So anyway I'll amend my disdain for trailers to "trailers for recent films".

Ted

 

[SteveGon]

Just had to chime in with more praise for this release. I was quite impressed with the audio and sound - thank you, Warner!

 

[Brook K]

And I'm extremely glad to hear how good the disc is. Warner may not be putting them out as fast as we'd like, but they generally do a great job, which is part of the reason I'm willing to buy DVD's like The Thin Man, Shop Around The Corner, and 42nd Street, unseen.
Here's hoping this leads to more Lubitsch releases like Trouble In Paradise and To Be Or Not To Be.
One thing I'd like to see Warner add to their discs would be the Robert Osborne Intro/Extro's from TCM. He always has interesting information and it would be nice to have these preserved.

 

[george kaplan]

I agree wholeheartedly with all of the positive statements about Shop Around the Corner, although I have to admit I also enjoy both of the remakes.
I also agree about the trailers. The only trailers I really watch are the ones that are unique, which tend to be older ones. Hitchcock did some good ones, although the one for The Bishop's Wife is probably the furthest away from a typical trailer I've ever seen.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I also find this release to be exceptional. Pardon my "me too" since I agree with the above posts and have little to add. Picture and sound are excellent.

WB: Thanks, and may we have some more Lubitsch, please?

Regards,

 

[Jeff_HR]

Warner's DVD of "SHOP" is stunning, and an overall lovely presentation

I could not agree more! This has been one of my favorite Stewart films for years. I always get out my LD of "In the Good Old Summertime" after watching "Shop Around The Corner" and watch it as part of a twin bill.

 

[nousername]

Just saw this tonight on DVD (I had seen it before only on TV). Excellent movie.
Good sound and picture. I'd recommend this for anyone who is a Jimmy Stewart fan like me.
Margret Sullavan was great in this movie. Too bad her career ended prematurely and that her life ended so tragically in suicide...:frowning:

 

[Patrick McCart]

One thing I'd like to see Warner add to their discs would be the Robert Osborne Intro/Extro's from TCM. He always has interesting information and it would be nice to have these preserved.

That is indeed a great idea.

 

[Jack Briggs]

I am so pleased to see this thread. Thanks, Ted, for starting it off with an excellent assessment of the new disc, and thanks everybody else for maintaining the high standards set initially.

Haven't screened my copy yet, but this thread has forced me to move the disc toward the front of the backlog rotation.

Again, thanks.