BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Martin Teller Short but sweet comedy about a working schnook who gets pranked into thinking he's won a big pile of cash. I really enjoyed how this movie played out, with some heartfelt turns and nice character moments that made it feel a bit more Capra-esque than your typical Sturges. It doesn't really get too manic, and just has a pleasant vibe to it. This could have been a wackier movie, or a more cynical one, but I appreciate that it didn't go in those directions. I also appreciate that it doesn't torment the audience by dragging out the misunderstanding too much. Dick Powell and Ellen Drew are terrific together, they make a charming couple, and the film sports a roster of enjoyable character actors too. The ending is a bit predictable, but other moments aren't.

jc-osms Short and sweet, bright and breezy, but not without pith, this early Preston Sturges feature helped further establish his "wonder-kid" reputation in the early 40's before his great classics "Sullivan's Travels", "The Lady Eve" and my favourite "Hail The Conquering Hero".The simple premise of a hoax win in a national coffee-slogan competition for ordinary average nice-guy Powell is the springboard for a light morality tale along the lines of "he who does good has good things happen to them" - although not without the usual series of ups and downs, just as you'd expect.Of course nobody here is really bad, even the duped killjoy Mr, no make that Dr Maxford of the sponsoring coffee company or Mr Shindler of the too-trusting department store from whom Powell buys gifts for the whole neighbourhood on the strength of the phony winning telegram placed on his desk by his prankster work colleagues. Even when he finds out that his win is bogus, Powell can't get angry at the tricksters, so it's no real surprise that his homeliness, honesty and humility wins everyone over, including his feisty girl-friend, played by Ellen Drew, with the predictable twist in the last reel that Powell's slogan wins anyway.Powell is very likable in the lead, although Drew is a little too high-pitched in delivery for my taste as the film develops. There's the usual troop of madcap eccentrics which peoples almost every Sturges comedy, with some nice little cameos, I particularly liked the actor playing the deadpan cop, not above making some contemporary allusions to Hitler & Mussolini to stress a point.The dialogue of course is mile-a-minute vernacular and I got a kick out of Sturges' Dickensian word-play over triple-barrelled lawyer's names (along the lines of "Swindle Cookum and Robbem!"). Right from the start, we get the "screwball comedy" template of a poor Joe and his girl, dreaming of something bigger waiting for something extraordinary to happen, with Powell and Drew's extended night-time scene on their New York apartment roof-top, and succeeding entertaining scenes including Powell's reaction to "winning" the competition and best of all the frenetic crowd scene when Maxford tries to get his money back only to cop a batch of rotten fruit ("Don't throw the good stuff" admonishes one parent to a tomato-wielding youngster), it's all good clean fun and ends up happily ever after. And get a load of that "zoom" shot back into Maxford's office at the end - it certainly got me out of my chair, not the last time Sturges employed camera tricks of this type - remember the memorable stop-start sequence to "The Palm Beach Story". The movie celebrates community, the little guy who dreams of making it big and how to meet disaster with alacrity, in short a feel-good movie with a big heart, well worth an hour and four minutes of anyone's time.

gmatusk Could this be one of Preston Sturges's most under-appreciated comedies? -- in addition to being one of his funniest. In "Sullivan's Travels," Preston Sturges has the Joel McCrea character speak admiringly of fellow director Frank Capra. In "Christmas in July" possibly Sturges was trying to suggest to Capra how to handle sentiment without falling into sentimentality --- the scene where Dick Powell is handing out presents to his neighbors, and he gives a doll to a crippled girl in a wheelchair -- a remarkably tender moment in the midst of a hectic funny scene -- done with just the right deft touch.One of my favorite lines occurs when the owner of the Maxford Coffee Company (played by bug-eyed character actor Raymond Walburn) sarcastically tells apparent contest-winner Powell, "I can't wait to give you my money!"Sturges also shows that you can have plot complications without resorting to stock villains --- no simplistic class warfare here, such as you'd find in a Frank Capra film -- rich and poor are equally lovable -- even gruff opinionated William Demarest. Sturges embraces all of humanity, all classes.This film has an exceptionally satisfying "feel-good" ending --- the audience is made aware of the exuberantly happy ending before the main characters realize the change in fortune about to befall them --- the camera zooms across the city to reveal that a decision is going to unravel all the plot complications --- it's a breathlessly whirlwind revelation to the audience! A unique "feel-good" ending that tops all other "feel-good" endings! As far as I know, the first person to point out the unique nature of this ending was Dale Thomajan in his 1992 book "From Cyd Charisse to Psycho : a Book of Movie Bests."

matusekpres Could this be one of Preston Sturges's most profound comedies? In addition to being one of the funniest and most underappreciated. In "Sullivan's Travels," Preston Sturges has theJoel McCrea character speak admiringly of fellow director FrankCapra. In "Christmas in July" possibly Sturges was trying to teachCapra how to handle sentiment without falling into sentimentality --the scene where Dick Powell is handing out presents to hisneighbors, and he gives a doll to a crippled girl in a wheelchair --a remarkably tender moment in the midst of a hectic scene -- donewith just the right touch, One of my favorite lines occurs whenbug-eyed Raymond Walburn sarcastically tells contest-winnerPowell, "I can't wait to give you my money!" Sturges also showsthat you can have plot complications without resorting to villains --no Capraesque class warfare here -- rich and poor are equallylovable -- even gruff William Demarest.