The Shop Around The Corner (1940)

Set in Budapest, two sales clerks in a quality leather goods shop get off on the wrong foot and have an antagonistic relationship. Meanwhile, he (James Stewart) is engaged in a through the mail relationship with a young woman who he hopes to meet soon. What he and she (Margaret Sullavan)  don't know is that she is the woman he has been corresponding with. Based on the play PARFUMERIE by Miklos Lazslo and directed by Ernest Lubitsch (NINOTCHKA). This delightful confection is one of cinema's greatest romantic comedies. The screenplay by Samson Raphaelson is sharp and droll, the chemistry between Sullavan and Stewart is palpable and Lubitsch's "touch" evident in almost every frame. It's rare to get a romcom so artfully intelligent, this is a real treasure. Remade as a musical in 1949 (IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME), a Broadway musical in 1963 (SHE LOVES ME) and an updated version in 1998 (YOU'VE GOT MAIL) but never equaled. With Frank Morgan (perhaps his best performance), Joseph Schildkraut, Felix Bressart, Sara Haden, William Tracy and Inez Courtney.