CHRISTMAS IN JULY (1940)

PRESTON STURGES

Comedy Romance Classics Recommended Tango's Choice

Cast

DICK POWELL ELLEN DREW RAYMOND WALBURN ALEXANDER CARR WILLIAM DEMAREST ERNEST TRUEX

Plot

Tragically underseen, this Preston Sturges comedy is all of 68 minutes long (including the credits) and is a laugh riot from start to finish. The story: Dick Powell's hapless Jimmy MacDonald dreams of getting rich quick by winning corporate-sponsored contests like "count how many peanuts there are in the window display." A perennial loser, he is stunned when he wins a slogan competition for a rival coffee company. Immediately, his boss (also a coffee magnate) promotes him, ashamed he hasn't been listening to his obviously great ideas, and Jimmy takes his best gal (Ellen Drew) on a shopping spree. Only it turns out that the telegram announcing Jimmy's win is a hoax. Pitch perfect screwball from one of the masters of the genre.