Christmas made to measure
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Christmas made to measure |
| Original title | Christmas in Connecticut |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1945 |
| length | 102 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Peter Godfrey |
| script |
Lionel Houser Adele Comandini |
| production |
William Jacobs for Warner Brothers |
| music | Friedrich Hollaender |
| camera | Carl E. Guthrie |
| cut | Frank Magee |
| occupation | |
| |
Made-to-measure Christmas is an American romantic comedy directed by Peter Godfrey from 1945. Barbara Stanwyck , Dennis Morgan and Sydney Greenstreet star in the Christmas film .
action
Newspaper editor Elizabeth Lane is popular with housewives across America for her Diary of a Housewife column , where she writes about recipes and other family matters. Her readership believes she lives with her husband and baby on an idyllic Connecticut farm . In fact, Elizabeth, with no cooking skills, lives in New York City without a husband or child - which she keeps a secret from almost everyone for good reason. Elizabeth's publisher, Mr. Alexander Yardley, who knows nothing about his author's secret, suggests that she organize a Christmas dinner for the returned war hero Jefferson Jones. Elizabeth wants to refuse, but the strict and truthful Yardley threatens her that he would fire her and her editor-in-chief Dudley in this case. Finally, Elizabeth agrees. She desperately tries to keep her secret and wants to marry her friend, the architect John Sloan, because he - like the husband of the "fake" Elizabeth - owns a farm in Connecticut and has wanted to marry her for years. Elizabeth doesn't really love Sloan, though. Elizabeth receives further help from her friend, the cook Felix, who usually gave her all the recipes for her column. Felix is reported to Yardley as Susan's uncle.
Arriving at Sloan's beautiful farm in Connecticut, Elizabeth not only meets John's housekeeper Nora, but also the baby of a neighboring family, which she wants to pass off as her own. The wedding by the local judge Crothers is supposed to take place between John and Elizabeth as soon as possible, but the ceremony is interrupted by the early arrival of the war hero Jefferson. Jefferson and Elizabeth quickly get closer as they first take care of the baby and then spend some time in the barn looking for a missing cow. Jefferson is drawn to the attractive "housewife" Elizabeth, but respects her supposed marriage. At dinner with Jefferson and Mr. Yardley, it is not Elizabeth who cooks, but Felix. At night, Judge Crothers secretly wants to start his second attempt to marry Elizabeth and John. However, the ceremony is interrupted again when Jeff and Yardley come downstairs in search of supper. Elizabeth discovers her love for Jefferson and does not want to marry John after all. When Judge Crothers appears the next morning for the third attempt at marriage, he can be brushed off with the help of Felix and a little lie.
Jefferson and Elizabeth spend the evening at a ball and later ride a sleigh. Only absorbed in each other, the horse runs away from both of them, and the two are arrested by the police for allegedly stealing the sleigh. Meanwhile, Mr. Yardley watches as the real mother picks up her baby from the farm. He thinks the mother is a child kidnapper and calls the police and the press for help. In the morning, Elizabeth and Jeff return to the farm from prison, waking up the assembled reporters. Yardley, who was annoyed about Elizabeth's nightly disappearance anyway, finally learns the truth about her "real" life from her. The angry Yardley fires his star author. There is also a clarifying conversation between Elizabeth and John and they decide not to get married.
Elizabeth now wants to marry Jeff, but his fiancée - the nurse Mary Lee - poses a problem in the way. Jeff had previously got engaged to the nurse in order to get better food rations in the hospital. However, it turns out that Mary Lee is already married to another man. Felix, meanwhile, convinces Mr. Yardley over dinner in the kitchen to employ Elizabeth again. Yardley offers her and John (for an architecture column) a contract, but Elizabeth refuses to return to Diary of a Housewife . Eventually, Jeff becomes engaged to her, despite Felix warning that Elizabeth can't cook.
background
British director Peter Godfrey hired Barbara Stanwyck for the lead role , who two years later would work again with Godfrey in the films The Curse of Madness (Cry Wolf, 1947) and The Two Mrs. Carrolls (The Two Mrs. Carrolls, 1947). Before Stanwyck, Bette Davis was also in discussion for the lead role. Godfrey was friends with both Stanwyck and Sydney Greenstreet, and although the two actors were best known for their roles in darker films, the director hired them for this comedy. The filming went smoothly and Greenstreet and Godfrey were known on the set for playing little pranks on the others involved. The same film set was used as the house of John Sloan, which already depicted the house of Katharine Hepburn's family in Leopard Kisses .
Remake
In 1992 a television remake was made under the title Christmas in Connecticut (in Germany: Only Santa Claus was to blame ) with Dyan Cannon as Elizabeth, Kris Kristofferson as Jefferson Jones and Tony Curtis as Mr. Yardley. Arnold Schwarzenegger took on the direction of his second and last directorial work, and he also made a cameo in the film. Nevertheless, Schwarzenegger's remake received bad reviews.
synchronization
The dubbed version was created for the German television premiere on December 24, 1991.
| role | actor | German Dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth Lane | Barbara Stanwyck | Monika Peitsch |
| Jefferson Jones | Dennis Morgan | Peter Kirchberger |
| Mr. Alexander Yardley | Sydney Greenstreet | Gottfried Kramer |
| Dudley Beecham | Robert Shayne | Peter Lakenmacher |
| Nurse Mary Lee | Joyce Compton | Eva Kinsky |
| Judge Crothers | Dick Elliott | Henning Schlueter |
| Yardley's butler | Olaf Hytten | Günter Lüdke |
reception
When it was released, the film grossed $ 3 million at the box office, proving to be a commercial success. Even today, the comedy has received largely positive ratings from film critics. To this day, Christmas in Connecticut is more widely known in the United States and was often played on television during the Christmas season in the past.
Cinema writes, for example, that Stanwyck, known more as a cool vamp, is simply "refreshingly believable" in her bumbling attempts to appear housewife and judges: "Delicious: Barbara Stanwyck bakes pancakes". The lexicon of international films saw Christmas made to measure as "a lively comedy with a brilliantly acting leading actress."
Web links
- Christmas custom made in theInternet Movie Database(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christmas in Connecticut (1945, IMDb Trivia). Retrieved December 12, 2017 .
- ↑ Mary Anne Melear: Christmas in Connecticut (1945) - Articles. In: Turner Classic Movies . Accessed December 12, 2017 .
- ↑ Christmas in Connecticut (1945, IMDb Trivia). Retrieved December 12, 2017 .
- ^ Arnold Schwarzenegger: Christmas in Connecticut. April 13, 1992. Retrieved December 12, 2017 .
- ↑ Release info at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Made- to-measure Christmas at the German synchronous file
- ↑ Christmas in Connecticut at Rotten Tomatoes. Accessed December 12, 2017 .
- ↑ CINEMA Online: Christmas made to measure. CINEMA Online, accessed December 12, 2017 .
- ↑ Christmas made to measure. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 27, 2017 .