a favorite Christmas movie

 Christmas in Connecticut  

One of my favorite Christmas movies of all time is Christmas in Connecticut, made in 1945 and Starring Barbara Stanwick who plays a wanna-be domestic goddess and expert on all things home and garden. It’s so relatable to me, and that’s why I love it so much.

Made just after the Second World War, this film starts off with a Navy hero who recovering from being lost at sea, is on bedrest and is absolutely enamored by all the meals and fabulous recipes he reads about in Smart Housekeeping magazine while he’s in the hospital. 

Then the attention quickly to turns to Elizabeth... the fabulous home and garden writer for Smart Housekeeping magazine...

  

This is when we first meet Barbara Stanwyck as Elizabeth Lane, the ever so popular writer of Smart Housekeeping magazine. Liz is a modern-day Martha Stewart who is the most popular women’s magazine writer and personality.

The trouble is she's a columnist for "Smart Housekeeping," THE magazine for all aspiring homemakers in America. Her popular monthly column called "Diary of a Housewife."

She goes on and on writing about cooking, practically brags about her idyllic home life on her Connecticut farm with her husband and darling baby (who don’t really exist). 

For months and probably years she’s been putting on this farce, and doing it quite well, I may add!

The thing is, she really lives in a tiny and humble Manhattan apartment, alone, with less than picturesque views and she can't cook to save her life. 

With the help of the darling restauranteur “Uncle” Felix who inspires every gourmet meal she that writes about, she has no trouble getting away with being this domestic imposter.

 

As you can see, I can totally relate to this role of Elizabeth Lane, right down to the scene where she is forced to show off her flapjack flipping skills!

The most intriguing part of this movie for me is that she’s such a fabulous writer and with her vivid imagination, she pulls off being the popular Elizabeth Lane persona without a hitch.

When I sit down at my own computer keyboard, I'm often inspired by this first scene of Elizabeth at her typewriter. The words and wonderful pictures she paints with her stories are always in the back of my mind.

Here's an example of Elizabeth's writing style, as expressed in this first scene that she appears in...      

“From my living room window as I write...

...I can look out across the broad front lawns of our farm...

...like a lovely picture postcard of wintry New England. In my fireplace, the good cedar logs are burning and crackling. I just stopped to go into my gleaming kitchen...

...to test the crumbly brown goodness of the toasted veal cutlets in my oven.

Cook these slowly.”

It's simple, quite effective and right to the point!

 

Meanwhile, there are undergarments and other laundry drying on the clotheslines outside her slightly dreary NYC apartment. 

The radiator blasts a poof of steam that in her mind translates to a dreamy stone fireplace with “good cedar logs” burning. 

She’s eating a breakfast of sardines right out of the can. I love how the whole scene is beautifully juxtaposed.  

 

So off we go to spend a Christmas in Connecticut! And of course this movie is set during Christmastime, so this is where the fun and love begins…

 

A lot is riding on her made-up charming life and ultimate deceit, and of course, love blooms between Elizabeth and the handsome war hero.

There are moments of light screwball comedy in this movie, but overall, it’s a fun and festive holiday movie.

 

Mr. Yardley- “I remember what you said about the charm of an attractive woman...

...performing her homey little task of flipping flapjacks...

...with the smell of good coffee and sizzling bacon in a sunny kitchen.

I'm homesick for a sight like that.”

 

Felix- “Oh, Lizka, Lizka. You give me goose pimples. Watch now. 

I show you how to flip-flop the flop-flips. On...  up!  Ah.  You see?  

It's easy.  Now you try it. Throw it up. Up!  

Not on the stove.  In the pa...  Now.  

Throw it with this. High, high, high, high.  Oh...  Up! Ah. Up. 

Take this. Throw it up. High, high, high. 

Oh, up! Lizka!

Better you cook on the typewriter.”

Elizabeth- “Oh, Felix, what am I going to do?”

 

“She can't cook, but what a wife!

What a Christmas!

What a Christmas!”

ciao fabiana

 

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