Elizabeth isn\u2019t married, doesn\u2019t have children, doesn\u2019t live on a farm in Connecticut, and doesn\u2019t know how to cook, and she\u2019s not trimming a tree and placing presents under it, either. As she types up her latest dispatch from her imagined life as a homemaker, reading along out loud, director Peter Godfrey pans across her New York City apartment, which looks more appropriate for the 1940s version of Carrie Bradshaw. Elizabeth isn\u2019t looking for a husband \u2014 she\u2019s far more enthused about the delivery of a luxurious new fur coat than she is about the arrival of her determined suitor John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner), a prominent architect. \u201cThe things a girl will do for a mink coat,\u201d she muses, not particularly concerned with the ruse that she\u2019s putting over on her millions of readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That sounds like the set-up for a domesticating romance, which is the expected outcome for holiday rom-coms from classic Hollywood all the way to Hallmark. It seems like Elizabeth will have to give herself an instant housewife makeover when her blowhard publisher Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) insists that she host decorated World War II veteran Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) for Christmas. Yardley doesn\u2019t know that Elizabeth fabricates the details of her home life and gets all her recipes from the restaurant down the street, run by boisterous Hungarian chef Felix Bassenak (S.Z. Sakall). Like all of the men in the movie, he projects his image of feminine virtue onto her, and he isn\u2019t interested in anything that might contradict it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the men in her life who cajole Elizabeth into creating an elaborate hoax for the sake of good-hearted Jefferson. Her editor, Dudley Beecham (Robert Shayne), who helped her concoct her false biography, begs her not to expose the truth and get him fired. John spots an opening to renew his frequently rejected marriage proposal, and he agrees to let Elizabeth use his Connecticut estate as her supposed family home. Since she\u2019s likely to soon be unemployed, he offers her the \u201cjob\u201d of becoming his wife, and without any other prospects, she grudgingly accepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even Yardley, who assumes that Elizabeth is the real deal, inserts himself into the holiday plans without asking, since his own daughter and grandchildren aren\u2019t able to visit. Elizabeth may be a modern career woman, but these men can see her only as some variation on the idealized fiction that she depicts in print every month. Jefferson is no different, really, presenting her with the same rocking chair that nearly 40 other fans have sent her after an offhand mention in a recent column.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That could make for a lopsided romance, and the blandly handsome Morgan is no match for the fiery Stanwyck. That turns into part of the movie\u2019s charm, though, since Elizabeth is so blatantly horny for Jefferson the moment she lays eyes on him. She knows that she isn\u2019t actually married, but she toys with his obvious attraction to a woman he thinks is taken, brazenly flirting in a way that\u2019s acceptable to the Production Code but still carries a charge of forbidden sexual energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elizabeth is drawn to Jefferson\u2019s purity and sweetness, but she\u2019s also clearly ready to devour him as soon as she gets the chance. The filmmakers put plenty of obstacles in her way, and Christmas in Connecticut<\/em> is a genial farce, with a house full of strong personalities who have various competing agendas. There\u2019s no outright villain, even if John is snooty and Yardley is overbearing, and Godfrey balances the screwball comedy with gentle holiday cheer. There\u2019s an enormous Christmas tree \u2014 which looms almost ominously over Elizabeth in the movie\u2019s most striking image \u2014 along with idyllic small-town yuletide activities, including sleigh rides and a community dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike a Hallmark heroine, Elizabeth isn\u2019t necessarily won over by the virtues of country living. She doesn\u2019t exactly embrace the traditional identity that the men thrust upon her, either. \u201cWhere did you get it?\u201d she asks John when he presents a neighbor\u2019s baby as a stand-in for the child she\u2019s written about having, and she keeps referring to the baby (and its subsequent replacement) as \u201cit.\u201d Stuck in the position of bathing and changing the baby, she\u2019s delighted to hand the duties over to Jefferson, who is already an expert thanks to helping out with his sister\u2019s kids. He can handle the childcare; she\u2019s a writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That doesn\u2019t mean she can\u2019t fall in love, of course, and all of the intricate machinations eventually fall away so that she can have her moment of blissful connection with Jefferson. As Felix would say, everything is \u201chunky dunky,\u201d and Elizabeth makes sure to get a raise while getting her man. It\u2019s a Christmas miracle \u2014 not that anyone is paying much attention to the holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Christmas in Connecticut” is available for digital rental or purchase<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/conn2-1024x667.jpg\")
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