The Shop Around the Corner

Ah, epistolary love, delightful.

This is the story of Matuschek and Company - - of Mr. Matuschek and the people who work for him. It is just around the corner from Andrassy Street - - on Balta Street, in Budapest, Hungary.

Klara Novak seeks work at Hugo Matuschek's Budapest store, after initially being turned down by head clerk Alfred Kralik, she gains employment after impressing the originally gruff Matuschek himself. This annoys Alfred and both he and Klara take an instant dislike to each other, completely unaware that they are I fact both each others lonely hearts pen pal.

Boy oh ...

Frank Morgan is super in this delightful comedy drama. His general goods store finds itself with a new employee in "Klara" (Margaret Sullavan) who has loads of new techniques and a style that manages to irk long time supervisor "Kralik" (James Stewart). What we know from early on is that both are engaged, enthusiastically, in a pen-pal relationship unaware of the true identities of each other - and their antics as the first meeting looms ever closer make for highly entertaining stuff to watch. Things take a bit of a downturn when, suddenly, "Kralik" falls a little foul of his normally jovial, ...