Christmas in July

Christmas in July

Pretty cute Preston Sturges fairy tale starring two actors, Dick Powell and Ellen Drew, who never made much of a lasting impact. It’s easy to see why; neither of them are particularly great conduits for the sprightly energy that Sturges’s script requires. Powell in particular feels like a dud. His particular brand of neutral, unmemorable masculinity seems deeply rooted in the time and hasn’t aged well at all. What’s really needed here is the kind of live wire performance that an Eddie Bracken would have brought to bear. In fairness, the performers are not working with Sturges’s best material either. This feels fairly slight compared to the heights he’d reach with “The Lady Eve.” I will say though that the ending, a true kicker of a last gag, makes up for a lot of the slackness that precedes it.

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