This movie has inexplicably become a Christmastime favorite but I don't get it. Full of preposterous turns of events, poor acting likely due to direction since it involves such otherwise great actors, boring scenes, an overly long story line that never seems to end and the miscasting of Barbara Stanwyck as a romantic lead (sorry, I don't see her in that role and in fact this movie shoots her face in ways that makes her look the least attractive I've ever seen her in a movie), this movie disappoints. (Stanwyck has ugly looks on her face, in fact, in the sleigh ride scene and I wonder why these were not re- shot.) The one saving grace in this movie is S.Z. Sakall; this movie showed off his talents well. But others did not fare so well, in my humble opinion. For example - Sydney Greenstreet's final lines (delivered with an unnecessarily extreme camera close-up) were not delivered well nor was his facial expression flattering. I would have re-shot those moments or - better yet - given the film a better ending. It was kind of lame. The love story, in the final analysis, in all its twists and turns, does not ring true. Not believable. I must be wrong though - since Robert Osborne, the noted film historian, thinks this is a great film. My bad. But, personally speaking, this is one movie I could not stand to see ever again. I found it excruciatingly dull and improbable.
Review of Christmas in Connecticut
