CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT: the dream factory has Christmas all wrapped up

A word of caution about CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT - don't watch this film on an empty stomach. There's so much talk about juicy steaks, roasted chickens and chocolate cakes topped with ice cream, that it'll send you running to the kitchen to raid the fridge.

Food is the thread that pulls together the disparate elements of this World War II comedy - a shipwrecked sailor, a magazine columnist, a pompous architect, an overweight publisher, and an equally rotund Hungarian restaurateur with a knack for mangling the English language.

The sailor is Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan), hailed as a hero by the newspapers for surviving 18 days on a life-raft after his destroyer is torpedoed by a German U-boat. Recuperating in hospital, Jones reveals he's never had a real family and dreams of spending a traditional Christmas surrounded by loved ones and large amounts of delicious home cooking.

Spotting a golden opportunity for publicity, Alexander Yardley (the wonderful Sydney Greenstreet), publisher of the bestselling magazine "Smart Housekeeping", bullies his star columnist Elizabeth Lane (the equally wonderful Barbara Stanwyck), into inviting the sailor to join her and her perfect family for the holidays at their perfect farmhouse in Connecticut.

Lane is the Martha Stewart of 1940s magazine cookery writing. Her weekly column with its gushing references to her husband, infant son, and their idyllic home, is read and admired by millions of Americans. But Elizabeth is hiding a very guilty secret. She has no husband, child or farmhouse and - even worse - she can't cook. All her recipes are created by a Hungarian restaurant owner called Felix (S.Z.Sakall).

Yardley's edict, and his decision to join the Lanes for Christmas himself, sets in motion a comedy of errors which keeps the story bubbling merrily for the ensuing 90 minutes.

Originally released by Warner Brothers in mid 1945, CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT is a superb example of the Hollywood studio system's ability to create entertainment that was both escapist and rooted in the reality of a world coming to the end of a devastating world war.

The film taps into the hopes and dreams of hundreds of thousands of families looking forward to a reunion with husbands, sons and fathers after four Christmases apart while they were away fighting for their country and for freedom. Jones' story reminds audiences just why the sacrifices were necessary, and anticipates to a brighter future when the grimness of war would be banished to history, and people could concentrate on the simple human pleasures of friendship, love and food.

Even if a traditional Christmas is not in your plans this film is guaranteed to lift your spirits, and that is due in very large part to the wonderful and extraordinarily talented cast of actors who have since become Hollywood legends.

Stanwyck is an absolute delight as Elizabeth Lane. One of the most versatile female stars of the 30s and 40s she was as deft at comedy as she was at film noir. In fact CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT was her first film since starring as cold-hearted femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson in "Double Indemnity."

The same is true of Sydney Greenstreet. Typecast as the sinister heavy is films like "The Maltese Falcon", "Casablanca", and "Passage to Marseille," he reveals an unexpected talent for light comedy as the overbearing boss who's really a giant teddy bear.

Acting alongside these two powerhouses could have easily overwhelmed the lightweight and non-descript Morgan so it's to his credit that he more than holds his own and succeeds in making Jones likeable and credible as the everyman who is naive yet also charismatic enough to seduce the leading lady.

Warmhearted, funny and full of affection, CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT simply oozes Yuletide cheer.

It's a film to fall in love with.