Hollywood during the Depression: Christmas in July
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
7:30pm $5 at the door
Christmas In July
Portage Theater
4050 N Milwaukee Ave,
chicago, IL 60600
Click here for location info
CHRISTMAS IN JULY
Directed by Preston Sturges • 1940
Dick Powell enters a contest to create a new slogan for the Maxford House Coffee Company with hopes of winning
$25,000 for himself and his girlfriend Ellen Drew (his entry: “If you can’t sleep at night, it isn’t the coffee, it’s the
bunk”). A cruel trick courtesy of Powell’s co-workers convinces the young hopeful that he’s really won the prize,
and we learn (or perhaps are reminded of) what it’s like when the difference between success and failure is being
able to afford a new couch for your mother’s apartment. Based on the script for an unproduced stage play Sturges
wrote in 1931, Christmas in July feels more like Paramount’s pre-Code output than the bulk of Sturges own work
in the 40s (which makes sense considering Universal simultaneously picked up and dropped the script in 1934).
Running a brief 67 minutes, the film finds a perfect balance between Sturges’s obsessive orchestration of details and
his effortless understanding of human interaction, and feels the closest to his heart. (JA)
67 min • Paramount Pictures • 35mm from Universal
http://www.northwestchicagofilmsociety.org/calendar/archives/classic/2012-april-august/
About the artists:
Christmas In July
CHRISTMAS IN JULY
Directed by Preston Sturges • 1940
Dick Powell enters a contest to create a new slogan for the Maxford House Coffee Company with hopes of winning
$25,000 for himself and his girlfriend Ellen Drew (his entry: “If you can’t sleep at night, it isn’t the coffee, it’s the
bunk”). A cruel trick courtesy of Powell’s co-workers convinces the young hopeful that he’s really won the prize,
and we learn (or perhaps are reminded of) what it’s like when the difference between success and failure is being
able to afford a new couch for your mother’s apartment. Based on the script for an unproduced stage play Sturges
wrote in 1931, Christmas in July feels more like Paramount’s pre-Code output than the bulk of Sturges own work
in the 40s (which makes sense considering Universal simultaneously picked up and dropped the script in 1934).
Running a brief 67 minutes, the film finds a perfect balance between Sturges’s obsessive orchestration of details and
his effortless understanding of human interaction, and feels the closest to his heart. (JA)
67 min • Paramount Pictures • 35mm from Universal
