Christmas in Connecticut
Short description
Christmas in Connecticut centres on Elizabeth Lane, a magazine columnist whose popular writing presents her as a happily married farm wife and accomplished cook. In reality she is single, lives in New York and cannot cook; the recipes and the rural life she describes come from others. When her publisher, Alexander Yardley, arranges for a wounded war hero, Jefferson Jones, to spend Christmas at her supposed Connecticut farm, Elizabeth has to keep up the pretence, with help from her editor and her friend Felix.
The film was directed by Peter Godfrey from a screenplay by Adele Comandini and Lionel Houser, produced by William Jacobs for Warner Bros. Pictures. Barbara Stanwyck plays Elizabeth, Dennis Morgan plays Jefferson, and Sydney Greenstreet plays Yardley, with Reginald Gardiner, S.Z. Sakall and Robert Shayne among the credited cast of 39.
Released in July 1945, the romantic comedy runs 102 minutes and took about 3 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 7.3 rating from around 14,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7 from roughly 180 votes, so the audience scores on both are positive and closely aligned.
What's left behind the scenes
- S.Z. Sakall, who played Uncle Felix, was born in Budapest and had Hungarian roots. In the film, he serves some dishes of Hungarian cuisine. This was a classic case of art mirroring real life. Sakall detested "American food" and ate exclusively Hungarian or continental cuisine. During lunch breaks during filming, he ate food he brought with him, prepared by his wife that morning.
- In 1945, Jack L. Warner (1892-1978), president of the film company, ordered a campaign to reduce exorbitant filming costs. That is why the mink coat purchased by Barbara Stanwyck's character is the same one worn by Joan Crawford's character in Michael Curtiz's crime drama "Mildred Pierce" (1945).
- The character of Barbara Stanwyck (who played Elizabeth Lane) was partially based on the writer Gladys Tabor (1899-1980), a columnist for Family Circle Magazine who lived in Connecticut.
- The sledding scene was filmed in the studio pavilions, with soap shavings used instead of snow.
- Shortly before working on this project, Barbara Stanwyck starred in Billy Wilder's thriller "Double Indemnity" (1944), where she played a seductress who persuades an insurance agent to kill her husband. Edith Head, who worked constantly for Paramount Pictures, was the costume designer there. Stanwyck liked how Head dressed her in Wilder's film so much that she insisted Warner Bros. hire Head to design the costumes for Stanwyck's character in this comedic melodrama by Peter Godfrey.
- In early 1944, Bette Davis was cast in the role of Elizabeth Lane, but she was replaced by Barbara Stanwyck in April of the same year.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
