Welcome to The Twelve Ways of Christmas, where we unpack weird and overlooked holiday films. And let’s face it, the blog roll could use the attention.
With little rhyme or reason, check in from now until The Day That Must Not Be Named for a new entry.
In most respects, Christmas in July is not a Christmas movie. It’s still mighty warm along the east coast with no hint of a frosted baked good or “merry merry” in the air. Preston Sturges’ title of course, is the joke, duping his pair of lovers into a premature celebration. Jimmy MacDonald (Dick Powell) is one of hundreds of offices workers for a department store chain, all crammed into another unassuming skyscraper. But Jimmy’s got bigger plans of finding success in advertising as he’s one of millions who enter the Maxford House Coffee’s national slogan contest. After a trio of coworkers dupe Jimmy (and the better part of the Maxford Company) into thinking he’s won the $25,000 grand prize, Jimmy and his girlfriend and secretary Betty Casey (Ellen Drew) spend the prize money like there’s no tomorrow.
Despite its trim 68 minutes, Christmas in July is remarkably a full picture that feels lived in and even a little claustrophobic. Not unlike Jack Lemmon’s C.C. Baxter in The Apartment (a less debatable Christmas movie), Dick Powell’s Jimmy is lost in hedges of desks and bulky office calculators as the workroom floor stretches back and back and back. He’s just another guy working under a supervisor who doesn’t appreciate his work and only knows him by name. Unlike Billy Wilder’s masterpiece however, there’s little spite in Christmas in July, and rather than rubbing the “prize telegram” in the faces of his naysayers, Jimmy jumps on his desk and embraces Betty as the couple is surrounded by a raucous crowd of coworkers. As Jimmy, Dick Powell’s head trembles with tremendous joy, seemingly on the verge of exploding after every successive exclamation. Had they the chance, Jimmy’s pranking office mates couldn’t possibly have let him down easy.
Hot off a spending spree at Shindel’s Department Store, Sturges stuffs Jimmy and Betty in the backseat of a cab brimming with gift-wrapped packages for practically everyone they know; there’s a highfalutin pull-out couch for Jimmy’s mother, model airplanes for the neighborhood boys and even something for Patrolman Murphy. Betty drops a reference to “Christmas in July” before remarking on how it feels like starting over for the couple. Despite not actually winning, Jimmy’s “prize slogan” has instilled a newfound faith in his advertising abilities from upper management, with top dog J.B. Baxter (Ernest Truex) suddenly eager to learn a thing or two. While Betty has some new furs and a shiny new rock on her finger, the couple — who begin the picture quarreling on the rooftop over whether Jimmy’s slogan makes any sense — have found joy in opportunity. As they hand out gifts to the neighborhood, once again surrounded by cheers and smiles, it might as well be Christmas Day.
In classical screwball fashion, the truth eventually comes to light but this isn’t The Apartment. Jimmy doesn’t lose his job or his happiness. The contest jury that had earlier failed to reach a decision on a winner, picks Jimmy’s slogan anyway, and Jimmy ends up with a (temporary) shot from management. His conditional promotion might not contain a raise or any special perks and it may be highly temporary, but that opportunity seems to mean more to Jimmy than any fat check could. There’s an endearing “Mr. Scrooge to Bob Cratchit” quality to Jimmy’s final exchange with Mr. Baxter. If not overtly about Christmas, Preston Sturges has offered a new beginning in Christmas in July, the brimming sense of hope and opportunity that comes at the end of each and every year.
Way #1: Batman Returns
Way #2: Black Nativity
Way #3: The Gingerdead Man
Way #4: The Ice Harvest