Alicia
I love this movie so much
ThiefHott
Too much of everything
SnoReptilePlenty
Memorable, crazy movie
Charles Herold (cherold)
In Christmas in Connecticut, a Martha-Stewart-style columnist is actually a fraud, grinding out columns from her city apartment, who is suddenly asked by her boss to throw a Christmas dinner in the farm she doesn't actually own.That's a really clever idea for a movie, and I had a good feeling about it when I was googling for Christmas films I'd never seen, but alas, the experience was underwhelming. While the cast list is impressive, the script is weak and nonsensical and the direction is lackluster. I rarely laughed, I felt the story was full of holes, I thought one character was treated pretty shabbily just because he was boring, and I found the constant duplicity extreme even by the standards of 40s comedies, particularly since no lie ever catches up with anyone.The movie also didn't have a strong Christmasy feel to it.There was one thing though that, in the context of a 1945 movie, is rather wondrous. There are two very very minor roles by black actors, a delivery person and a waiter or busboy. And the actors are allowed to be normal, with none of the "Yas ma'ams" and dopey remarks typical of the period. In fact, the waitstaff guy gives a dictionary definition of a long word, which makes him one of the smarter people in the movie. The number of Hollywood movies that portray African-Americans as normal human beings is so vanishingly small that I'm always excited to discover one. Outside of that, though, I didn't enjoy this movie.My girlfriend, on the other hand, kinda liked it.
AudioFileZ
There's some things I certainly love about Christmas In Connecticut, but Barbara Stanwyck really isn't at the top of the list. I've always found Ms. Stanwyck to be a bit too cold to be sweet, a bit too melodramatic to be truly vulnerable to the point of one burning to save her, and polarizing in her beauty which, to me at any rate, was different from either a classic beauty or the girl next door. But, Ms. Stanwyck was without doubt a good actress that could make you watch even if you didn't particularly think she was the lead you wished for. I guess that puts her in a kind of "rare-air" actress league?Anyway, this is a simple story with good parts played by an all-round decent cast. It's suppose to be a romantic comedy, but it is light on both the romance and the comedy. Neither gets particularly showcased, but it isn't for lack of trying. A war hero spends weeks on a raft and is celebrated upon coming home. A single-minded magazine business magnate sees an opportunity. His star columnist is a kind of Martha Stewart of the day. Only thing Elizabeth Lane, the columnist, isn't a homemaker, she's just a fine writer of "fiction" you might say as she weaves her life to be the consummate cook, homemaker, and mother, none of which is true. It sells a lot of magazines however.This sets up our main story which is the magazine owner insists Mrs. Lane entertains the war hero, Jefferson James played by Dennis Morgan, over a long Holiday weekend. Mr. James will be treated to life with the nation's top homemaker for festive eats, entertainment, and a taste of the American Dream he's fighting for. Well, it's a major predicament and to pull it off Ms. Lane will go to some lengths which include borrowing several infants of different sex, hair color, and size to stand in for her one child. The Christmas element here is kind of incidental in providing a vehicle and it really isn't a movie that celebrates the season too awfully much. I like old movies from this era and as much as anything this is why I like Christmas In Connecticut. The other reason is the always fun to watch Sydney Greenstreet and S.Z Sakall who steal most every scene they appear in. I'm surprised this movie is rated as high as 7.5 (circa late 2016), I feel it's more modest and only as good as a 6.5 because of not the story, but the cast. Not a must see of the Christmas Season, but a nice one for fans of 40's comedies.
JohnHowardReid
At 102 minutes, this Barbara Stanwyck/Dennis Morgan entry is allowed to run too long. After all, it is – as every customer will instantly recognize – one of those movies that give away their entire plot line in the cast credit titles. It's obvious that the beautifully photographed Barbara Stanwyck is going to fall for and marry serviceman Dennis Morgan. Anything Barbara has to say to anybody else in the cast is just wasting time – unless she says something particularly witty or humorous. She doesn't! If I was writing this screenplay, I would be sure to add plenty of humor to Barbara's dialogue. I'd make sure that she was always bitingly sarcastic, particularly in her exchanges with Sydney Greenstreet. But in fact, she doesn't assert herself at all. Why the hell not? Instead, she treats him with kid gloves and sucks up to the self-opinionated moron. Why? I'll admit the writer was aware of this problem, so he or she or they paint the Stanwyck character as a liar. And an opportunistic liar at that! One of those liars who will tell you anything either to get out of a scrape or to advance their own career! I'll admit Barbara does her damnedest to soft peddle this aspect, but it's there all the same! In fact, soft peddling is the wrong approach. You make her someone who glories in her lies, not someone who's ashamed of them. That's ridiculous! There's an excellent performance here by Greenstreet as the mogul you love to hate and whom you'd just adore to see getting his comeuppance from a fiery Barbara – but it doesn't happen! I could go on and on, but let's just agree that C. in C. is easy to sit through once, but it's a movie of hundreds of missed opportunities. That's an exaggeration. Let's say, dozens of missed opportunities. Available on an excellent Warner Brothers DVD.
Dunham16
The first half of the 1940's was marked by well known performers from other film genres stepping out of character to star in what may be the last wave of remembered Hollywood screwball comedies still marketed for home viewing and seasonally aired on television. Barbara Stanwyck does her usual professional job as the hard as nails career woman fudging a domestic column for a magazine whose bluff is called in thirties type screwball involving a runaway horse and cow, mixed up babies, Cuddles Szakall stealing the show at every turn with his comic flair and a rural farmhouse which lacks the central iconic focus of every movie advertising the charm of a rural farmhouse - the welcoming, party sized period kitchen. The storyboard is a nonsensical enough fantasy to work yet the editing takes most of the true comic flair out of the film. It seems to me most of the way through a decent musical with at least Dennis Morgan singing once but not truly a top flight comedy.
