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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...

To celebrate Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan's birthday, which is tomorrow, this week on «Film Frida» I want to tell you a little bit about the only film they ever did together. Directed by William A. Seiter, The Moon's Our Home (1936) begins when a nutty Hollywood star named Cherry Chester (Margaret Sullavan) is called home to New York by her stern grandmother, Lucy Van Steedan (Henrietta Crosman), who wants her to marry her dull cousin, Horace (Charles Butterworth), despite her protests. Taking the same train is Anthony Amberton (Henry Fonda), a famous adventure novelist who is traveling to New York for a signing of his new book. Although they have never met, Cherry and Anthony are scornful of each other. When he hears that Cherry Chester is on the train, he wonders aloud whether a «Cherry Chester» is a new kind of soft drink. She, on her part, is reading his latest travel guide: «Mr. Amberton and his camel,» she reads. «Oh, I see. He's the one with the hat on.» Durin...