My 150 Favorite Movies - #74

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Remade several times, including In the Good Old Summertime (1949), with Van Johnson and Judy Garland, and You've Got Mail (1998), starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, (also as a Broadway musical called She Loves Me, from 1963), this 1940 version is by far the best. Starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, at the absolute peak of their winsomeness, the story unfolds as a couple of coworkers who dislike each other, pursue romance on paper with mystery pen pals. Reportedly, this was director Ernst Lubitsch's personal favorite of all his films. The final scenes of the film are among the most romantic moments ever captured on celluloid.