The Shop Around the Corner

With this touchstone of romantic comedy, master of high-society sophistication Ernst Lubitsch applied his famously elegant style to a new subject: the everyday hopes, fears, and heartbreaks animating the lives of the employees at a humble leather-goods shop in Budapest. As Christmas approaches, battling coworkers Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) grow increasingly exasperated with each other—unaware that, all the while, they have been exchanging anonymous love letters as pen pals. Graced with an irresistible ensemble cast, The Shop Around the Corner is a poignant, warmhearted look at the difference between romantic expectation and reality.