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Directed by Sam Wood, The Stratton Story (1949) begins in the early 1930s when Barney Wile (Frank Morgan), a retired catcher who is now a baseball scout, spots young Texas farmer Monty Stratton (James Stewart) pitching for $3 a game with a team called the Wagner Wildcats. Impressed by Monty's raw skill, Barney trains the boy throughout the winter and then takes him to California for a try-out with the Chicago White Sox. Manager Jimmy Dykes (as himself) is convinced to take Monty on, with Barney retained as pitching coach. Meanwhile, Monty marries a sophisticated young woman named Ethel Milberger (June Allyson), whom he met on a blind date arranged by teammate Eddie Dibson (Bill Williams).   James Stewart, Frank Morgan and June Allyson in The Stratton Story . After sitting on the bench for most of his first season with the Chicago White Sox, Monty is finally asked to pitch against the New York Yankees and manages to score a win for his team. When the season ends, he brings Ethel, w...

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, The Shop Around the Corner (1940) takes place at Matuschek and Company, a leathergoods shop located in Budapest, Hungary, where paternal Mr. Matuschek (Frank Morgan) presides firmly, but fairly, over his staff. There is Alfred Kralik (James Stewart), the bashful yet lovestruck head clerk; Pirovitch (Felix Bressart), a kindly family man; Ferencz Vadas (Joseph Schilkraut), a duplicitous womanizer; and Pepi Katona (William Tracy), an impetuous delivery boy. One morning, while waiting for Mr. Matuschek to arrive, Alfred reveals to Pirovitch that he has been conducting an anonymous courtship through letters with an intelligent woman whose ad he found in the newspaper.   That same morning, Klara Novak (Margaret Sullavan) enters the shop looking for a job. Alfred tells her that there are no openings, but Mr. Matuschek hires her when she talks a customer into buying a cigarette box that he loves but Alfred hates. At work, Klara and Alfred argue incessantly, and...