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Christmas in Connecticut is a holiday film that plays 365 days of the year. Barbara Stanwyck gives a brilliant, sardonic performance as Elizabeth Lane, a columnist for Smart Housekeeping magazine, whose enticing descriptions of the exquisite meals she prepares for her husband and baby on their bucolic Connecticut farm earns her fame as "America's Best Cook." A writer, she is; a cook, she is not. As she types the words, "From my living room window, as I write, the good cedar logs cracking on the fire..." the view is of clothes flapping on the line outside her bachelorette Manhattan apartment. An able supporting cast keeps her lie on life support: her editor, her stuffy and detestable architect suitor, and the wonderful "Uncle" Felix (S.Z. Sakall), an English-garbling Hungarian chef who provides the recipes that fill her column.

Cut to Jefferson Jones, a sailor adrift at sea for weeks after his destroyer is torpedoed. Memories of the food described in Lane's columns are central to his survival. After his rescue, as he's recuperating in a naval hospital, a marriage-minded nurse thinks she might nudge Jones to the altar if he could only experience a real domestic Christmas. And it just so happens that she was nurse to the grandchild of Alexander Yardley, the wealthy and powerful publisher of --you guessed it--Smart Housekeeping magazine. And so, she pens the letter that could unravel Lane's carefully constructed fraud. She writes to Yardley asking that Jones be included in America's ultimate Christmas--the one to be held at the Lane family farm in Connecticut. The pompous Yardley (ably portrayed by Sidney Greenstreet) believes the Lane myth and instantly sniffs a story that will send his magazine's circulation skyrocketing. And staring down a lonely holiday, he decides to join the Lanes for Christmas on the farm, too. Now, all Lane has to do is come up with a farm. And a husband. And let's not forget the baby. Christmas in Connecticut is classic screwball entertainment of the best kind, with its on-target skewering of social convention and house-of- cards-about-to-tumble tension: a perfect farcical vision of domestic blitz. --Susan Benson ... Read more

Reviews (28)

CLASSIC CHRISTMAS CARD.
A picture about Christmas in the country, a wonderfully funny, romantic Christmas. It bubbles over with merriment and radiates good cheer like a Christmas tree with all the lights lit. This is a surprisingly well-known film (they play it on television every year at Christmastime) and it's highly entertaining. Stanwyck is winning as Elizabeth Lane, (Betty Crocker personified) who writes a cooking column for a housekeeping magazine (in actuality, she knows nothing about either subject) When a soldier comes to her home for the holidays, she must either master the ways of housekeeping of reveal her incompetence. Dennis Morgan is very likable here and the creepy Reginald Gardiner is amusing as the man who tries to win over Stanwyck. The plot is thin as air and the direction is rather unsure, the script and pacing could have been better - but just sit back and enjoy this little flick - it never claimed to be a Sturges masterpiece. Also available in digital colorized version.

Stanwyck at her best!
Christmas in Connecticut is a romantic comedy all of you classic movie buffs will enjoy. It centers around a single working girl (Barbara Stanwyck) who writes a cooking column for a ladies magazine. Her writing is so convincing that her boss (Sidney Greenstreet) believes it all--husband, baby, and farm in Connecticut! So he arranges to have a sailor and himself invited to spend Christmas "on her perfect farm." What to do? Here she is, a gal who can "only cook on the typewriter." Well, bring along Uncle Felix to do the cooking. All goes well until she is asked to flip a flapjack. Did she do it? Well, wait and see. This movie is full of fun and romance (the old-fashioned kind). It's a holiday treat for young and old alike.

The best Christmas movie
Forget all the others that people think are "must sees" at Christmas time. This is the best and, seemingly, the least well known.

It is so funny to watch in light of today's Martha Stewart and other domestic "divas." A lot of the humor was probably risque for the day but, sadly, most youths today would have to have it explained to them.

The movie is a well written comedy of errors. The characters are interesting and not just one demensional as is so often the case in comedies. I found myself very involved with the story...cheering for my favorite characters.

If you only have time to see one Christmas movie this year do make it this one. You won't be sorry.

Great Christmas Fare
I look forward to seeing this romantic comedy of errors each year at Christmastime. Barbara Stanwick is superb, and it's great to see Sidney Greenstreet in a comedy. I just want to know...when is it coming out on DVD?!!

An underappreciated classic on par with "Wonderful Life"
I discovered this movie in my teens and have loved it ever since. It is a classic - capturing the mores of the era and the timelessness of a good farce. It is a shame that this movie has not enjoyed the great appreciation afforded "It's a wonderful life" and "Miracle on 34th Street." "Christmas in Connecticut is every bit as good - if not better, and not nearly as overplayed. ... Read more

Reviews (28)

CLASSIC CHRISTMAS CARD.
A picture about Christmas in the country, a wonderfully funny, romantic Christmas. It bubbles over with merriment and radiates good cheer like a Christmas tree with all the lights lit. This is a surprisingly well-known film (they play it on television every year at Christmastime) and it's highly entertaining. Stanwyck is winning as Elizabeth Lane, (Betty Crocker personified) who writes a cooking column for a housekeeping magazine (in actuality, she knows nothing about either subject) When a soldier comes to her home for the holidays, she must either master the ways of housekeeping of reveal her incompetence. Dennis Morgan is very likable here and the creepy Reginald Gardiner is amusing as the man who tries to win over Stanwyck. The plot is thin as air and the direction is rather unsure, the script and pacing could have been better - but just sit back and enjoy this little flick - it never claimed to be a Sturges masterpiece. Also available in digital colorized version.

Stanwyck at her best!
Christmas in Connecticut is a romantic comedy all of you classic movie buffs will enjoy. It centers around a single working girl (Barbara Stanwyck) who writes a cooking column for a ladies magazine. Her writing is so convincing that her boss (Sidney Greenstreet) believes it all--husband, baby, and farm in Connecticut! So he arranges to have a sailor and himself invited to spend Christmas "on her perfect farm." What to do? Here she is, a gal who can "only cook on the typewriter." Well, bring along Uncle Felix to do the cooking. All goes well until she is asked to flip a flapjack. Did she do it? Well, wait and see. This movie is full of fun and romance (the old-fashioned kind). It's a holiday treat for young and old alike.

The best Christmas movie
Forget all the others that people think are "must sees" at Christmas time. This is the best and, seemingly, the least well known.

It is so funny to watch in light of today's Martha Stewart and other domestic "divas." A lot of the humor was probably risque for the day but, sadly, most youths today would have to have it explained to them.

The movie is a well written comedy of errors. The characters are interesting and not just one demensional as is so often the case in comedies. I found myself very involved with the story...cheering for my favorite characters.

If you only have time to see one Christmas movie this year do make it this one. You won't be sorry.

Great Christmas Fare
I look forward to seeing this romantic comedy of errors each year at Christmastime. Barbara Stanwick is superb, and it's great to see Sidney Greenstreet in a comedy. I just want to know...when is it coming out on DVD?!!

An underappreciated classic on par with "Wonderful Life"
I discovered this movie in my teens and have loved it ever since. It is a classic - capturing the mores of the era and the timelessness of a good farce. It is a shame that this movie has not enjoyed the great appreciation afforded "It's a wonderful life" and "Miracle on 34th Street." "Christmas in Connecticut is every bit as good - if not better, and not nearly as overplayed. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

All review
I have seen most (if not all) of his movies. Errol has always been at the top of my list for free spirited actors. He was a rogue. His alcoholism did not help his acting any, but he managed to (in his younger years) be a fine actor with character and heart for the roll he was playing. The movie had a good plot but not enough (at least for me) interaction between him and Barbara. Because I am a very outspoken person, Barbara could have done a better job of standing her ground and confronting him, instead of sneaking around.

MEDIOCRE MYSTERY.
In the opening scene of one of the least typical of Flynn's vehicles, Barbara Stanwyck plays a widow who arrives at a house of mourning much to the surprise of the family, who didn't know the deceased was married. Stanwyck reveals that this had been a marriage of convenience to help the young man get his inheritance held by his uncle, Mark (Errol, natch) and it was to be followed by divorce in six months. Flynn is suspicious of Stanwyck, while she definitely has cause to be suspicious of him, all this resulting in a fairly suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse. Dour, leering servants, a hysterically morbid niece (Geraldine Brooks) plus weird nocturnal noises all add flavour to the puzzling plot. Flynn underplays in a properly sinsiter, stuffy, and apparently sadistic manner, but in some scenes he's just plain wooden in his acting technique. An excellent Franz Waxman score tries to elevate the melodrama to greater heights but the rather banal dialogue and ultimately inept plot unfortunately defeat it. Stanwyck does her usual best, however she and Flynn have a decidedly odd chemistry.

A good mystery vechicle for Barbara Stanwyck
This is a little known film of both Barbara Stanwyck and Errol Flynn. While it is not up there with some of Barbara's classics like "Double Indemnity" "The Lady Eve' and "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" it is still an extremely well made and tense mystery that keeps you guessing to the very end.
The strong, almost Gothic feel that the film possesses really adds to the atmosphere and I feel it is unique in that it was the only pairing of Barbara Stanwyck and Flynn, two of the greatest stars of the 30's and 40's. Errol Flynn performs in a role very different to his normal screen persona but I feel he does an admirable job in the subdued, slightly sinister character of Mark. Barbara Stanwyck i feel never gives a bad performance and she is her usual terrific self as the young woman coming to her (supposedly) dead husband's gloomy estate being determined to discover what really is going on there. The scenes of her trying to find these answers and all the strange things that happen add real tension to the proceedings. The scene where barbara sneaks into the Lab in particular is real nail biting stuff. Director Peter Godfrey who drew many fine performances out of Stanwyck over the years and here he really creates what i think is an exciting little mystery full of murder, dark rooms, the hint of insanity and very clever camera work.
I strongly recommend "Cry Wolf" not only for those like me who really love Barbara Stanwyck but for those that enjoy a good old fashioned mystery done with typical old Hollywood finese.

Taut and engrossing
I thought this movie was taut and suspenseful. It had me guessing about who was really the good guy up until the very end. Barbara Stanwyck gives another solid performance as the rather mysterious heroine. She also looks terrific in clothes that were designed for her by the late, great Edith Head. Errol Flynn makes a convincing, seemingly sinister scientist. Yes, the ending is a bit over the top but in a highly entertaining way. And the photography, sets, and musical score are excellent. This is old Hollywood style movie making in top form. Recommended!

Noir No-No
Late in his life, Errol Flynn added to his impressive catalog of professional disgraces by appearing (drunk) in a stage production of "Jane Eyre." He must have forgotten his utter failure in this dud film noir, in which he plays an ambiguous Mr. Rochester-type character menacing (or is it trying to protect...?) good old Barbara Stanwyck. When the family secret is finally revealed at the end, you'll shake your head in disbelief -- if you're still awake. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Once only pairing of Warners giants Bogart and Stanwyck
I've always been intrigued by "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" and always feel it is a far better film than how it is always judged. The film has a polished look to it and contains a suspenceful story that really keeps you on the edge of your seat, particulary in the second half.

Certainly "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" is no "Casablanca" or "The Maltese Falcon" (but lets face it how many films like that come along in any actors career anyway?) but I feel from repeated screenings of it that it is a most interesting vechicle for Bogart in particular. He plays a character very different from his usual type of personas. I dont see that as a bad thing at all and I feel his craggy looks and dark demeanour are absolutely perfect for the role of Geoffrey Carroll, a psychotic artist who paints portraits of his wives (hence the title) as the Angel of Death and then murders them. His pairing with Barbara Stanwyck is an original and fascinating one which sadly was never repeated but I feel, also contrary to critics belief that they team very well together. Barbara also takes a different stance in this film playing a nice girl who marries Geoffrey for all the right reasons only to discover the dark truth of the man she thought she knew when it is almost too late. Barbara has a sympathetic role here and she performs to her always high standard. She was always excellent as the heroine under threat and she beautifully modulates her performance here, moving from being an inlove new bride to someone witnessing a frightening chain of events that make her fear for her own life . The tension between the two once Sally (Stanwyck) begins to realise what is going on in Geoffrey's mind is the basis for the suspence that occurs in the story. Alexis Smith also scores (no mean task when up against Bogart and Stanwyck)in the role of the slinky and bitchy Cecily Latham who tries to come between Geoffrey and Sally. The scene at the afternoon tea in the Carroll's garden is very funny in a sarcastic kind of way and she is perfect as the femme fatale of the story.

The set up look of this film also adds greatly to its suspense element. The constant chiming of the towns Church Bells, the constant inclement weather through most of the second half as the tension rises, and the dark sombre house really create the right atmosphere of impending doom. Peter Godfrey directed this film and was responsible for guiding Barbara Stanwyck through some interesting and diverse roles like "Cry Wolf" and "Christmas in Connecticut" two of my personal favourites of Stanwyck's work. While not the greatest director at Warner Bros Godfrey here directs with a sure hand and keeps the action bubbling along to the climax of the story.

The other supporting players are also well chosen with the ever reliable Nigel Bruce playing his usual bumbling character, in this case the local doctor Dr. Tuttle who finds himself having to treat Sally for a mysterious "illness' which in reality is Geoffrey trying to slowly poison her. Young Anne Carter really impresses in the role of Geoffrey's strangely mature daughter Beatrice by his first wife. Patrick O'Moore is also excellent as Charles Pennington, "Penny" a former love of Sally's who begins to suspect that all is not well in the Carroll household.

As stated previously the last 30 minutes of the film as Sally begins to suspect Geoffrey's motives and tries to outsmart him are the best in the whole film. It is real nail biting action as Barbara tries to outwit her husband while not letting him know she is on to him. This occurs in the midst of a violent storm once everyone else is out of the house. The scenes where Geoffrey finally loses his mind in homicidal rage and sets out to murder Sally are harrowing to witness and I feel Bogart handles this difficult piece of acting perfectly making Geoffrey a truly terrifing character.

"The Two Mrs. Carrolls" while not a great success on release is a film worth viewing. It certainly contains good work by both stars and is among my favourite Stanwyck performances. Try watching this as a late night treat during a storm, you are guaranteed a real nail biting time indeed!

Stanwyck once again picks Mr. Wrong
"The Two Mrs. Carrolls" may not be one of the great melodramas from 1940s Hollywood, but it is a fine example of the craftsmanship that went into studio pictures in those days. Its primary importance in film history is that this is the only pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck. While Stanwyck is superb, Bogart, I'm afraid, acts like he is only going through the motions, perhaps because this is what would have been considered a 'woman's picture' back then. [Compare this to his amazing performance the next year in the manly "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"]

When the movie opens, Geoffrey Carroll [Bogart] is seen fishing with Sally [Stanwyck] in Scotland. They've recently met and are in love. When she accidentally discovers that he is married, she ends the affair. In despair, Geoffrey goes home to his wife and daughter in London. The story suddenly shifts forward a couple of years. We find out that the first Mrs. Carroll died, and now Geoffrey and Sally are married. They live a seemingly idyllic life in the country, until Geoffrey meets Cecily, played by a ravishingly beautiful Alexis Smith. For a time, Sally is clueless, but when questions about how Geoffrey's first wife died, Sally finally suspects what we already know: There is something very wrong with her husband and her marriage.

The story is somewhat absurd, but no one could play a victim, innocent or otherwise, better than Stanwyck, as she was to prove a year later in "Sorry, Wrong Number". She alone is reason enough to see the movie.

The cinematography by J. Perevell Marley is filled with extraordinary light and shadow. He creates a moody, chilly atmosphere. Composer Franz Waxman, who was creating a film score about every eight weeks in those days, provides some interesting music, although it is not nearly as inspired as his compositions for movies like "Sunset Boulevard" and "A Place in the Sun". Frederick Reynolds' editing is extremely tight for the first thirty minutes or so and is an excellent example of just how spare the art of editing can be.

Another Angel of Death
Humphrey Bogart is an artist who paints pictures of his wives as the angels of death right before he kills them. He's been painting a lot in his studio and he won't let wife Barbara Stanwyck see his portrait of her. Hmmmmm? Could this mean ...? The film starts slowly, and doesn't really hit its stride until Stanwyck starts doing the math and adding up the clues. Up until that time, not much happens. Bogart is O.K., but this certainly isn't one of his top performances. Stanwyck is very good once she's given a chance to act later in the film. Alexis Smith, as the intended next Mrs. Carroll, doesn't much register with a distant performance that reveals nothing of her character (although the script gives her little to do anyways, other than a few good exchanges with Bogart at a tea party). I enjoyed the last thirty minutes a lot, but I wish the script and director had managed to make the first two-thirds more interesting. The story has more potential than the film delivers.

And Bogart is a Bonus
Even with out Bogart this is a glorious film. It stands on it's own providing a wonderful atmosphere, suspenseful plot, stellar acting. Bogart is in peak form as well as a psychopathic artist. He plays the role with understated menise. His mental state isn't drilled into you with a jackhammer but is built slowly with. While not as romantic as Casablanca it stands in my mind as one of his best.

Bogart and Stanwyck cast against type
This Hollywood film starring Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyk was filmed in 1945 but Warners had such little faith in it that it delayed it's release for 2 years. They were probably bewildered at the way director Peter Godfrey used it's two stars since both actors give quiet performances which seem to go against their images. Based on what I presume to be an English play by Marvin Vale, the film is set near London and casts Bogart as an unstable artist who marries Stanwyck to make her the second Mrs Carroll after murdering the first. Bogart's artist predates his paranoid Fred C Dobbs of Treasure of Sierra Madre and his rudeness is funny. Stanwyck gets one shot worth the price of purchase alone. Ascending a staircase, realising Bogart's betrayal with the hourglass-figured Alexis Smith, her acting supported by the expressionist camera angle, her heavy gown and the music of Franz Waxman. The film features a delicious tea party where insults fly and eyes roll. Smith says she is "guarding her diet" and her mother replies "You've practically got a death watch on it". Godfrey gives us a murder without any music and lots of ringing bells to drive Bogart to distraction. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Lupino Tries Hard
Ida Lupino tries really hard to inject some life and energy into this story of two brothers who fall in love with the same woman. Lupino is the poor single mother who loves one of the brothers, Errol Flynn, a free spirit who composes music. Gig Young is the other brother, and rich girl Eleanor Parker is the object of both brothers' affections. The story is too complicated to summarize in a few sentences, with the locale shifting across Europe. However, the story is never credible, and neither are the actors. Flynn was no longer cutting much of a dashing figure by this point in his career, and he brings no depth or conviction to the character at all. Parker never seems like the type of woman who could inspire anything, while Young barely registers as the other brother. Lupino goes for it, as she did with pretty much every performance, but with this script and ill-defined character, there's not much she can do than appear continually overwrought. By the half way mark of the movie, I couldn't have cared less what happened to any of them. There is some good music, but the story and characters do not flow nearly as well as the orchestrations. This film is a disappointment.

How the mighty do fall!
Maudlin and overly melodramatic tearjerker that can't be saved despite highly photogenic and charismatic stars Errol Flynn, Ida Lupino, Eleanor Parker and Gig Young, who are unable to generate life in this lackluster vehicle. But it's not their fault--try as they might, even the likes of Olivier or Garbo would have trouble tackling such a poor script. Stars Flynn and Young as Sebastian and Caryl Dubrok in 1900's Venice, two estranged brothers as different as night and day, with the only thing in common being both are composers--one established, the other still aspiring. But whereas Caryl is a responsible young man and wealthy and successful at his career, Sebastian is a charming but penniless and irresponsible rogue who has yet to make a name for himself. To support himself in the meantime he performs in a weak act with the equally poverty-stricken Gemma Smith (Lupino), his partner both professionally and romantically. Complications arise when Caryl's beautiful and cultured fiancee Fionella MacLean (Parker) discovers that an unmarried woman named Gemma and a child are staying with a composer named . . . Dubrok. Not knowing of Sebastian's existence, she naturally assumes the worst, that Caryl is a no-good scoundrel keeping his mistress and child on the side, so she breaks their engagement and escapes to an Alpine resort. Sebastian and Gemma are also there as lowly entertainment, and soon Fionella unknowingly falls for her former fiancee's brother, much to the anger and chagrin of Caryl and a distraught Gemma in particular. All this unwittingly brings about the child's death and Gemma's resultant emotional devatation, but in the end Sebastian redeems himself by making an honest woman out of fallen woman Gemma when realizing he truly loves her and how he nearly destroyed her, as well as his "transformation" into a responsible man whose newfound ability to love provides his compositions with searing depth and insight so he is now able to create a true masterpiece and finally find success. Melodramatic mush not recommended unless you're a big fan of these stars or having nothing to do. Obvious drawbacks are the weak story, uninspired direction, fake-looking European sets and bad casting--particularly Lupino's wounded doe role since she's most effective as tough tarts. Ironically but unsurprising enough, she ends up stealing the show since she gets to emote a lot with her character's abundant suffering. The only redeeming feature is the always great Erich Wolfgang Korngold's magnificent score--but even with that, I couldn't help thinking to myself how the mighty do fall at the laughably pathetic sight of the great Flynn in the outdoor resort scene reduced to wearing a ridiculous Alpine outfit and playing an accordian!

Laughable Script.
It's not a comedy but if you don't laugh, you will be wondering why you continued to sit through this till the very end. Errol Flynn carried this film most of the way with his usual charm but even he can't perform lazarus on such a bad written screenplay. Peter Godfrey didn't help either. Perhaps he had fallen asleep while directing this piece. Having said that, it has a great cast of actors and actresses. Lupino is a good actress but I felt she was badly miscast in this film. What a pity though because the idea was good and it had potential.

One of Flynn's Worst
Despite the impassioned tribute to Elisabeth Bergner below, this is not the little heartbreaker's version of this particular story. In this glossy Warners remake, the adorable little gamine is played by Ida Lupino, who scampers about in what has to be her worst performance. This is one of the duds ("Never Say Goodbye" and "Cry Wolf" are the others) that Errol Flynn made in the late forties trying to extend his range, and which instead killed off his career as a major star. Don't even think about buying it.

Not a Flynn classic
Sadly, "Escape Me Never" is not one of Errol Flynn's best efforts, and is not listed in any grouping of his screen classics. His performance, while not bad, per se, is disappointingly superficial. The reviewers were extremely unkind to this film when it was released, and it is one of the instances in which they were right.

Errol Flynn was so much more than just a screen swashbuckler, as he proved in films like "Gentleman Jim," "Objective Burma," and "The Sun Also Rises." He himself admitted he didn't take "Escape Me Never" seriously, and it shows. ... Read more