you've got mail - The Shop Around the Corner (1940) Discussion

[–] Shazzbot77 19 years ago

I completely agree. I just saw it for the first time tonight (it was wonderful btw!) and several aspects of You've Got Mail are lifted entirely from this movie. For example, the scene in the cafe, only instead of reading Anna Karenina, Meg Ryan's character reads Jane Austen. I have no doubt in my mind that this movie significantly influenced You've Got Mail. They even cast Tom Hanks, who has always struck me as the Jimmy Stewart of his day, in Stewart's role!

Edit: I've just looked in the Movie Connections section of this page, and it states that You've Got Mail is indeed a remake of this film.

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[–] Poolhustler231 19 years ago

Thats because youve got mail is the remake of this. The other shop is even called "The Shop around the corner." But they updated everything and used different names. And they do change names in remakes sometimes, i watched the remake of flight of the phenoix the other day cause nothing else was on and that used different names. But yea its a remake

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[–] knight_sentinel 11 years ago

"You've Got mail" is not a remake of this film, this film and "In the Good Old Summertime" are all based on the play "Parfumerie" by Miklós László. The second film is a musical.

Minds that have withered into psychosis are far more terrifying than any character of fiction.

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[–] maxskyfan-9 12 years ago

I agree that You Got Mail is indeed a remake of this movie and for once they made a decent one. I think they even had a trailer to this movie on the DVD. I could be wrong.

The only big difference is that both the main characters work together on this film and in You Got Mail they are competitors, only if the film was made today they both would go out of business because of Amazon. Remember what happened to Borders. The Fox would have gone down too.

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[–] ericwyness 19 years ago

The original is a play set in Budapest by Laszlo Miklos called "Parfumerie"; the virtually flawless "Shop Around the Corner", "In the Good Old Summertime" (w Judy Garland), "You've Got Mail" & the delicious Broadway musical "She Loves Me" are all derivatives of its perfect gem-like plot & charming Magyar sensibility. A little paprika never hurts, adds a little zest!

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[–] ivy76 19 years ago

There is also the 1949 film starring Van Johnson and Judy Garland entitled "In the Good Old Summertime". :-)

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[–] ericwyness 19 years ago

Quite right; I intended to include "In the Good Old Summertime" but it slipped what passes for my mind as I was typing. I just now edited my post to add it; thanks for catching my little sin.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] snideelf 19 years ago

Someone just told me that "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town"(1936) was recently re-made into an Adam Sandler movie. Can't recall the name of the movie because I am not a fan of Sandler.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Laurarocks501 18 years ago

It's called Mr. Deeds

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[–] rose-murray 18 years ago

yes because it's based off of it
only the romance was carried off-screen as well
sadly this romance was felt purely by jimmy and margaret did not reciprocate
but they remained friends til the end of their lives and worked on several films together because of their incredible and innate chenistry

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[–] shokwave-1 17 years ago

it's important after seeing re-makes to always see the originals, which are more times than not much better. you've got mail was definitely good but The Shop... is truly epic, charming and funny.

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[–] earth_faerie_13 18 years ago

You've Got Mail was a modern remake of The Shop Around the Corner. If you watch You've Got Mail you'll notice there is a bookstore or something called "The Shop Around the Corner."

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[–] bdmazur 18 years ago

I like it better when remakes don't share the original name, so you're not thinking about the original as you watch the first time until you realise it. Best example: Meet Joe Black, a remake of the old-school Death takes a Vacation.

Who's leg do you have to hump to get a dry martini around here?

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[–] alless626 18 years ago

I absolutely adore this film, and yet, I absolutely hated "You've Got Mail." It is a shameless theft, not a remake!! It lacks totally in all the warmth and charm of the wonderful and lovely "The Shop Around The Corner."

Nora Ephron is nothing but a thief, and her bastardised version does not charm or uplift the viewer. Her screenplay is horrendous, whilst the original is a heaven sent gem and a masterpiece. This lovely film has heart and soul and humour; that which is so glaringly absent in the awful, trite and cloying remake by Nora Ephron.

As a rule, I thoroughly dislike remakes. They really never are at all good, if the original was in any way a success. Rarely it may happen; if the original was well written, but poorly received for various reasons; then perhaps a remake might be justified in it's existence. But, almost never is that the case. For the most part, they exist as an opportunistic cash cow; thrown together with a lack of creativity and imagination, solely for the purpose of an effortless pay cheque. And, those who pay for such things, are victims of a terrible fraud perpetrated agaist a cinema loving public, caught unawares.

It is, but a short step, from the sublime to the ridiculous!

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[–] wolflair-1 18 years ago

In a lot of cases remakes are not as well done or just a mediocre version of the first movie. "The Flight of the Phoenix" with James Stewart was great. The remake with Dennis Quaid made my head hurt. The same with Sahara. In the original Bogart version it took place during WWII. The other just stole the name and the sand.

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[–] MissMellieY 17 years ago

I had the same reaction when I watched the remake of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE with Marlo Thomas. I wanted to hunt down the person who thought this was a good idea and boil him in oil. It made me SO ANGRY! As for You've Got Mail, it isn't a bad movie. I like the movie on its own but I LOVE The Shop Around The Corner and Mail doesn't even compare. Meg Ryan is good but she is NO Margaret Sullivan. And NO ONE can touch Jimmy Stewart in anything. Tom Hanks is a great actor but he is not and never will be another Jimmy Stewart. I hate it when they say that he is another Jimmy Stewart. It isn't fair to him to be compared to perfection!

"A man's kiss is his signature" -- Mae West

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[–] mrplankton 17 years ago

quite agree with you msytn. i quite liked 'you've got mail' but its nothing compared to a classic such as shop around the corner.

cheers!

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[–] theoneheart 11 years ago

I agree remakes seldom can touch the heart of the originals. It's also true that it's impossible to compare actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood with our actors today. The great actors reach perfection according to their own time. Tom Hank reached perfection in Forrest Gump, Big, Cast Away and many other films while Jimmy Stewart achieved perfection in enumerable films of his time. Like wise, it would be impossible to compare Clark Gable and George Clooney without regard to the nature of the industry at the time. Tom Hanks is not another Jimmy Stewart nor is Clooney another Gable. Hanks and Clooney may be the closest facsimile to Steward and Gable we have today. For me, Denzel Washington will never compare to Sidney Poitier. If I'm honest though, Denzel may be the better actor.

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] wcuster 15 years ago

My problem was that I saw "You've got mail" first,and then years later I finally caught "Shop around the Corner",which to me,was sent from heaven.I now know what you mean by "victims of a terrible fraud",indeed I felt it was so.
The two movies just do not compare,in any shape,way or form.imo,you hit the nail on the head.

Mrs.H.L.(living in the 1920's in my dreams)

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[–] linda303 14 years ago

YGM is my favorite romantic comedy. Shop Around was ok, but if I had seen it first, I would have thought "how cute" then promptly forgotten it.

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[–] Stratego (30124) 6 years ago

You've Got Mail sucks.

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] MissBuffaloGal 17 years ago

"You've Got Mail" is a remake of "The Shop Around The Corner". But of course, in my opinion, The Shop Around The Corner is much better.

---
Jimmy Stewart: A Wonderful Legend
"Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing a Jimmy Stewart imitation myself"

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] romanza521 17 years ago

What I found interesting is that I think You've Got Mail is the "fluffier" movie. I was surprised to find such a dark moment in The Shop Around the Corner concerning the boss's reaction to his wife. I also like a lot of the dialogue better in The Shop Around the Corner. I like You've Got Mail, but I LOVE The Shop Around the Corner!

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[–] mbs 17 years ago

shop around is great, great, great. and i just saw it this afternoon...great script, like everything in it worked....their wasn't one wasted thing in the movie!

you got mail not so much---in fact a lot of you got mail was cluttered by stuff not related to the plotline or anything going on in the movie. which is why you got mail was 2 hours long and shop around is a tight 92 min.

also whoever posted that sahara wasn't a good remake of the bogart movie...it wasn't supposed to be a remake...they just happened to have had the same title. there was a made for tv remake of the bogart sahara movie though with Jim Belushi as Bogart if you can believe it though.

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[–] doug7347 17 years ago

You've Got Mail is an acknowledged remake of The Shop Around the Corner. In homage to the Lubitsch masterpiece, the bookstore owned by Meg Ryan's character is named "The Shop Around the Corner". You can't get any plainer than that.

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[–] stevensonfl 15 years ago

I enjoyed both movies and was watching again today for similarities between the two. I wondered if anyone else noticed that the design of Ryan's character's "Shop Around the Corner" in _You've Got Mail_ was similar to Matuschek's shop. (Look at the floor tiles and the shelving.) That's got to be a reference.

Also, I could've sworn that Ryan's character has Anna Karenina at the cafe scene (characters talk earlier about Austen's Pride & Prejudice, but I think that was just a nod to the situation - people who don't like each other at first but end up in love). I wonder if there are any other little quirky connections like that or if that was just my own projection.

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[–] don-lockwood 15 years ago

You've Got Mail will always be the film anyone younger than 80 remembers. It's witty and better paced, and it updates the story with the Internet. Much funnier. The so-called classics from the '40s just don't hold up as well as later films; they are slow and highbrow.

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[–] RightBackAtYa 15 years ago

I think you need to have an appreciation for the old-time actors to enjoy the older movies more. To me, there isn't an actor alive today who can touch those old-time actors.

Jimmy Stewart
Humphrey Bogart
Bette Davis
Katherine Hepburn
Spencer Tracy
James Cagney
Joan Crawford

And the list goes on.

Those people were actors. It seems like all Hollyweird is interested in anymore is the "pretty" people. If you're pretty enough, and skinny enough, then you have yourself a movie career! There is very little talent out there today. There are a few exceptions, but not many.

I love old movies. I'll take them over the new crap they're spinning out any day of the week. Back then, movies had plots that made sense. They didn't have CGI to fall back on so their movies were all carried by the actors themselves. You HAD to be a good actor back then to be on the silver screen.

All movies are today is blood, guts, sex and gore. The more of it there is, the more money the movie makes. It's crazy.

Anyway, I'll turn on an old movie and watch it before I will a new one. After all, 99 percent of movies today are remakes from the past. Originality went out the window with good actors.

What you call discovery, I call the rape of the natural world.

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[–] don-lockwood 15 years ago

You are mostly right, but I will still take You've Got Mail any day over the original here. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are terrific actors, and YGM is not an example of why cinema is truly so bad today.

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[–] PillowRock 14 years ago

YGM is not an example of why cinema is truly so bad today.

I'll agree with you that far. You've Got Mail is a fairly decent RomCom: entertaining enough and with personable leads. It's not an example of what's wrong in modern Hollywood. As modern (meaning roughly the rating system era, post-1967 or so) remakes of classics go, it is fairly decent / benign.

However, I disagree with the assertion that it would make most people forget the original (aside from those who "hate" all B & W movies, or movies before they were born or whatever; they would never have watched the original to begin with). The Shop Around the Corner is a much richer overall movie, in my view. In YGM I have a vague memory of Dabney Coleman having a couple scenes as Hanks' father, but he wasn't really woven into the overall story in any real way (I don't think he ever even meets Ryan's character). I can't even recall other supporting roles at all.

By contrast TSAtC has its whole little community in the shop. They all interact regularly and we (the audience) get to know all of them. That makes for a much more intricate .... and interesting ...... set of relationships and interactions over the course of the movie.

Besides, YGM is ..... What? ...... about the third best RomCom that Hanks and Ryan made together.

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[–] workshyslacker 15 years ago

I would respectfully disagree. I'm under 30 years old and I watched In the Good Ol' Summertime (GOS), The Shop Around the corner, and You've Got Mail (YGM) in that order.

In my opinion, the Shop Around the Corner (TSAC)is the best for several reasons.

1. YGM was the worst remake. It was turgid and most of the dialogue was flat. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's characters came across as boorish and abrasive/shrill respectively. There was none of the gentle chemistry that James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan had.

2.YGM had a contrived plot. Although the internet messaging was a nice update, the antagonism between the two protagonists was too harsh to believe they would just fall for each other just because they realised they were pen pals. In TSAC, they both liked each other in the beginning, and only came to blows because Sullavan's character teased Stewart's character and wanted to get his attention.

3. The characters were more believeable. One could understand that they got to know each other pretty well working side by side in the same working environment than glaring at each other from rival shop franchises... and Hanks' character put Ryan's character out of business --- then magnanimously offered her a job in his new store. (Hah!- sorry couldn't resist).

4. GOS - the plot had too many musical numbers to showcase Garland, and dragged too much - and the chemistry in TSAC was a lot better.

5. There are subtle themes of practical romanticism in TSAC, and of how money is inextricably linked to love; Matuschek's wife is rich but bored and takes up with a younger man, Stewart's character wants to propose to his penpal but he can't because he's sacked . And I appreciate these realistic touches because one can't live on love alone, especially when bringing up a family is involved. These deft touches add richness to the characters, and make them 3-D rather than cardboard cut-outs or cliches of warring chalk and cheese lovers.

6. All the wittiness from YGM is lifted whole-heartedly from TSAC. Chunks of dialogue have been copied. Sure, one has to pay a lot more attention to the sly and more subtle nuances of the dialogue in the latter, but that's what makes the storyline multi-layered, and open to interpretation.

My only points for YGM is the addition of the Internet and colour (but then GOS was in colour too).

Best wishes.

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[–] pontevedro 9 years ago

I'm well under 80 and the Shop Around the Corner seems far better to me. And the Internet technology in YGM that you think is so wonderful seems pretty clunky as of 2015.

Not to mention the bookstores. . .

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[–] Stratego (30124) 6 years ago

Get out of here. The Shop Around the Corner is a classic and the much better movie. Nobody even talks about You've Got Mail anymore.

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[–] 14 years ago

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