DVD Review: Christmas in July (1940)

Kino has released, on DVD and blu ray, this brief, breezy cheerful Preston Sturges comedy featuring Dick Powell as Jimmy MacDonald, a working class small timer who is duped into believing he won a radio contest, shows up to collect the loot, and receives a check from the head of the contest, believing his committee came to a conclusion. Jimmy's entire life changes. Of course when it is finally realized that he did not actually win, everything falls apart.

There are many delightful aspects to this production. First, the jingle that Jimmy enters into a coffee contest, is "If you can't sleep, it isn't the coffee it's the bunk." Jimmy is confident about this slogan, but others find it ridiculous. When the guys at Jimmy's work send him a phony telegram to dupe him into believing he won, it is funny until it cascades into a promotion. The guys at work don't have the nerve to reveal it was all a gag. Meanwhile, the coffee magnate's committee is stuck on choosing the right slogan so Jimmy showing up for the money further dupes the coffee company into dispatching a check.

One of the immediately fascinating things about this plot development is how this situation suddenly causes the ideas Jimmy has tried to give to his firm's advertising department are more serously considered. They had consistently been dismissed as insignificant, but his perceived success in a jingle confidence changes things. Jimmy is now accepted as an idea man, and given his own office to come up with jingles.

Another delightful aspect is the fact that Jimmy uses the money to make others happy. He buys an engagement ring for his girl (Ellen Drew), some modern appliances for his mother, and presents for all of his neighbors. It is a rather moving, altruistic response that never loses focus of the situation's humor. Throughout the movie, we realize that Jimmy hasn't really won anything, but we become caught up in his enthusiasm and altruism to the point where we hope that somehow, some way, he gets to keep the money. It's really quite ingeniously put together.

This was only Preston Sturges' second directorial effort, the first being "The Great McGinty." From here he would helm such classics as "Sullivan's Travels," "Hail the Conquering Hero," "The Lady Eve," :The Great McGinty," and "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek." As with those films, "Christmas in July" is filled with snappy dialog, fast-talking delivery, and delightful character actors like Raymond Walburn, William Demarest, and Franklin Pangborn. With its streamlined 67 minute running time, it flies by and never slows down.

Dick Powell was at a bit of a career lull at the time he made this. Once a box office star in Warner Brothers musicals of the 1930s, by 1940 he was generating less interest. He even took a co-starring part with then-newcomers Abbott and Costello the following year. Powell would reclaim his career with the noir classic "Murder My Sweet" in 1944, and would also be one of the pioneers of television production in the early 1950s. But at the time of "Christmas in July," Sturges was giving the actor something of a break. He comes off perfectly in the role of the naive Jimmy.

Kino's blu ray features an optional audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan of Diabolique magazine who offers fascinating insights that rank with her best work as a writer (check out her magnificent piece on the non-Dracula films of Bela Lugosi HERE).

The blu ray for "Christmas in July" is available at this link: Christmas in July