The Shop Around The Corner (1940)

Alfred Kralik (James Stewart) and Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) are employees at Matuschek and Company, a general store in Budapest. Klara and Alfred are constantly at odds with each other, butting heads and disagreeing on almost everything. Both are enamored of their respective pen pals, who serve as welcome distractions in their lives. Little do they know, they are each the other’s pen pal and, despite outward differences, have unwittingly fallen in love through their letters.

It is told in such a way as to warm the cockles of the heart and send the audience away from the theatre the better for having been permitted this intimate glimpse into the lives and loves of the personnel of the Matuschek store. – New York Daily News

Close to perfection — one of the most beautifully acted and paced romantic comedies ever made in this country. – Pauline Kael