"The Corner Shop" is different from Ernst Liu Bieqian's other works. It tells various stories that happen in a store. The film portrays the lonely soul of the little person, with a very warm and moving dramatic effect. The whole film has a brisk brushstroke and vivid performance, with the optimistic and positive atmosphere of the 1940s comedy, which seems to be enough to wash people's hearts. The attraction of the movie lies in the small details that flash with the interest of life everywhere. "The Corner Shop" more follows the mainstream Hollywood comedy model, which promotes mainstream social values in content and promotes an optimistic and positive attitude towards life. The characters in the story have more characters and more distinct personality. At the same time, Ernst Liu Bieqian's use of the classic "touch" in the past is relatively reduced. But this did not affect the overall quality of the film. Because Ernst Liu Bieqian, as a great director, can still control the actors' performance and the rhythm of the story to ensure that the work always develops in the direction he requires. This film was included in the Top 100 Love Movies of the 100 Years as selected by the American Film Institute, and was collected by the National Film Protection Agency of the United States.
There is a grocery and gift shop that has been in business for many years on the bustling street corner. The boss is Metutchek (Frank Morgan). There are several male and female clerks. Among them, Krerick (James Stewart) is the oldest but not too old chief clerk. Novak (Margaret Sullivan) is a newly added clerk. But Novak, who was full of fantasy, looked down on her superior, Krerik, in his bones. The two quarreled and quarreled. The Prince Charming in her mind is a pen pal who has never met! But in fact, this pen pal is Krerik. Soon, the situation in the store suddenly changed. Krerik was dismissed by the boss as an excuse for finding a job because he was suspected of having an affair with the boss’s wife. But at this moment he just happened to pay the pen pal appointment. But guilty of losing his job, Krerik didn't reveal his identity. On the other hand, the boss soon discovered that there was someone else who really gave him the green hat. Ashamed and annoyed, he tried to shoot himself. Fortunately, Pippi was stopped by the trot. During admission, the boss entrusted the store to Krerik to take care of it. Christmas Eve is approaching, with the efforts of Krerik and others, the small shop's single-day income hit a record high! At this time, all members of the shop, including the owner who just recovered and discharged from the hospital, are in a good mood to welcome the new year. As for our male protagonist, he seems to be ready to confess his love to the pen-friend who has always been kept in the dark...
Krerik, the male protagonist of "The Corner Shop". Smart, emotional, hardworking and diligent, and dare to speak up to the boss. And "unfortunately" he was correct every time. But frankly speaking, James Stewart played the role of the clerk in the shop, which is somewhat of a stubborn talent. What's more, with his tall, upright and handsome, not only was it difficult to win the favor of the heroine at one time, but he was even categorized into the ordinary sub-category with disdain! Is this a bit of a flaw in this perfect movie? However, James Stewart is still very good in performance. The complex and delicate changes in his eyes, expressions, and speech that he showed before and after discovering that Novak was his female pen pal fully demonstrated his acting superstar's demeanor. Novak's actor Margaret Sullivan has only appeared in 16 movies in his life. Among them, only this film is considered a classic. North American audiences are also very unfamiliar with her. Many people often think of Mia Farrow’s mother when the name is mentioned. Even so, the film critics still generally believed that no other actress was more suitable for Novak than her. According to them, "Catherine Hepburn is too hard, but Kean Arthur is too soft." That's right, Margaret Sullivan participated in Ernst Liubieqian's movie, not as a star but as a girl next door with naive fantasies and lovely personality. Visually, her simplicity coincides with the image of a migrant worker in a small shop. At the same time, her unique voice is more conducive to comedy effects in the processing of lines. It can even be said that without Margaret Sullivan, there would be no such excellent comedy classic.
Many people know that the love comedy "Electronic Love Letter" is remade from "The Corner Shop". After reading the old version, I have to say that the old one is much better than the new one. "The Corner Shop" not only tells about the old-fashioned love, but also includes the affection between the boss and the subordinates and colleagues. Looking carefully at this film, you can understand what is meant by Ernst Liubieqian's humor and wisdom. Most of the scenes of the whole film are set in a gift shop, but it is a narrow and limited space. I did not expect that the interaction of the characters actually makes me fun, just like being in a big family, the boss is a cute, you dream of The boss; the colleague is a good gentleman who can chat with you and solve your worries. When the director creates ingenious humor, he also adds a plot of the boss wife’s affair, which enriches the story itself without hindering the main plot Operation. In fact, the director arranged for the protagonist James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan’s love story to be very clever. He did not constantly paint too many disturbing details of the quarrel on these two men and women who were not happy with each other. Instead, he joined the store at the beginning of Margaret Sullivan and explained the facts of their discord in the conversation with and in the middle section, which made the plot tend to be concise and clear. The director’s approach is both commercial and playful, such as one of the descriptions of that After making a lot of jokes on the music cigarette case, it only subtly used a lens to explain its fate. Needless to say, the high-level technique of director Ernst Liu Bieqian can be seen.
Although the personal character and relationship between the two protagonists James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan influenced the development of the whole story, they were not so prominent in the proportion of the film’s success. Status. Because several other supporting roles performed equally well. Owner Metutchek, his heart is not bad, and it is not bad to treat his employees. And diligent, for more than 20 years, he devoted himself to the business as a day. However, his ability is limited, and he is slightly hypocritical and overjoyed. These minor faults are vividly reflected in the director’s carefully designed and arranged section to promote the eight-tone cigarette case. And his "matching wits and courage" with Pippi is also one of the highlights of this film: in the hospitalization room, the boss expressed his routine gratitude to Pippi. I thought that a few polite remarks would be able to pass the other party. Unexpectedly, Pippi actually asked for a regularization. At this time, the boss had no choice but to prevaricate: Wait until I get better. Pippi is not a fuel-efficient lamp. He has seen the boss thoroughly: you may change your mind when you get better. I don't know if you are lying... chattering endlessly. Reluctantly bored, the boss waved his hand: That's it, it's all right, you're right now, you're right now! At the end of the film, the boss thanked the shop assistants point by point for their efforts during his illness. Everyone mentioned it, except Pippi. Maybe not accidentally. Because the boss subconsciously doesn't like the cunning trot on his sick bed. As for Pippi, he was still not rude, with his back to the camera, he immediately coughed in protest. Therefore, the boss had to add two compliments in public. In these two scenes, Ernst Liu Bieqian accurately grasped the internal consistency of plot development and character creation, and at the same time portrayed them so vividly and vividly.
Playing Bilovic is Felix Bressat, one of the ace supporting roles in Liu Bieqian's movie. He is Jewish and was born in Germany in 1892. In his early years, he was a famous actor in the German Benny Theater. It is said that Hitler turned out to be his loyal fan. In this regard, Conrad Hayton also mentioned in his autobiography: Hitler once said, "It's a pity, Felix Bressat is a Jew!". Back to "The Corner Shop". Bilovic played by Felix Bressat. Cowardly by nature, I never want to get ahead. Although forced by the situation and need to express respect for the leader from time to time, but suffers from the limitation of aptitude, horses are often slapped on their hooves. For example, it was hard to open the car door diligently, but it was the colleague dressed as a playboy who came down. In addition, he is also a good friend of the protagonist Krerik. The two often communicated their work intentions and life insights in private. In Ernst Liu Bieqian's comedy movies, usually many life philosophies usually come from the dialogue between the secondary supporting role and the protagonist. Moreover, these dialogues, due to the huge contrast between the speaker's status, education level and their wise words, can often produce a strong comedic effect! This comedy model was also borrowed by Preston Sturges, a loyal admirer of Ernst Liu Bieqian. Believe it or not, think about it, everyone. In "Sullivan's Journey," the butler who
uttered his concerns before the owner set off... Although Margaret Sullivan was disgraced by the protagonist James Stewart, Margaret Te Sullivan is not the kind of actress who is in the shape of a beauty. Her temperament tends to play some small town girls, or ordinary women in big cities, but her soft voice, petite and cute appearance match the taste of the audience. Compared with former classmates James Stewart and Henry Fonda (the three became good friends because they studied dramas together), she went to Hollywood to film earlier, and Margaret Sue was filming this film. Levine is already a popular actress, James Stewart has been able to act in this film and she is recommended by her. Margaret Sullivan, while receiving this film, asked the company to borrow the same year or The rookie James Stewart, it happened that he had just acted in a best film "A Dream of Life", which was a huge work. Although he didn't have many opportunities to play, he was very much noticed, so the filming went smoothly. This "Street Corner Shop" truly embarked on its own silver journey, taking a big step forward for future success.
It’s also love. It’s always sad and sorrowful among the Easterners, even greasy and crooked, slimy, and always mixed with too many ethical elements, but it’s much simpler for Westerners, so Easterners You can't shoot such a romantic and classic love comedy, you can't write a passionate love poem, so you always have to extract Pushkin and Neruda when you write a love letter. In this warm drama---it is indeed an exquisite light comedy, with perfect structural clues, smooth dialogue and humor. Although the performance of the actors is exaggerated, it is not annoying, especially James Stewart’s acting skills. Superb, especially after knowing the true identity of Margaret Sullivan, that kind of lingering, affectionate eyes are very touching. This is also an actor who can speak with his eyes. He still plays that kind of honest old-school gentleman, and has a self-deprecating sense of humor. His slightly slender figure, with a little naughty eyes, is a representative of Hollywood actors in the golden age. His acting career started in drama, so he didn't have any difficulty in starring in such a drama film, it was natural and smooth.
It's a pity that there is neither such a beautiful film nor such an outstanding actor on the screen today. "The Corner Shop" is a typical classic movie, abandoning the dazzling of formalism and the reality of realism, even if it makes the film more profound in the social overlook. The film slowly unfolds the life and love of the employees of a store in an obviously carved form. The actors’ performances are humorous and have an extremely personal style, making the characters look very three-dimensional, even if there are many employees in the store. We can still remember everyone clearly. Although this kind of performance makes people feel a little dramatic, the final effect is indeed very good. The film does not describe the economic crisis too much. It only describes people’s lives in the context of this big era. Although this is only a branch compared to the main line of love, such a branch provides a lot of perspective and depth for the film. It also makes people feel a little sad, and it makes the film not only exciting but also touching.
Ernst Liu Bieqian gave the film a very rich connotation, so that the audience did not feel cold for a second during the viewing process, and the interest was drawn from beginning to end. This may be the greatness of Ernst Liu Bieqian. He does not deliberately pursue depth. He only uses superb storytelling to make us admire from the bottom of our hearts. It suddenly occurred to me that the Chinese translation team of "The Corner Shop" was very cute, and translated the heroine's phrase "now I found that he copied the book" into "It turns out that he is Guo Jingming". Not only that pen pal is Guo Jingming, but Guo Jingming is everywhere. So Guo Jingming, you are not fighting alone. You will never fall back on this! Of course you will continue to do such a thing? Your existence also proves how disregarding the reality of creation is in the current society.
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