12 Days of Cinematic Christmas #5: Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Directed by Peter Godfrey. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan and Sydney Greenstreet.

A list of Christmas movies would not be complete without Peter Godfrey’s 1945 cozy classic, Christmas in Connecticut. This wartime screwball comedy delivers a load of good cheer amidst an absurd premise. Elizabeth Lane, played with feminine grace by the renowned Barbara Stanwyck, is a widely successful columnist in Smart Housekeeping whose writings about her domestic family life on a Connecticut farm have amassed a large audience. The only problem is, Elizabeth is neither married, nor does she live on a farm. In a scenario that bears similarities with today’s influencer culture, Elizabeth lives a vastly different life from the ideallic scenes she puts on paper for her audience. When her publisher Alexander Yardley, unaware of her ruse, insists that she host returning war hero Jefferson Jones on her farm for Christmas, the stage is set for an absurd series of events. Elizabeth must quickly cobble together a farm, a husband, and a baby in a matter of days. 

Released a few days prior to VJ day in August 1945 (an odd summer release time for a Christmas movie, a pattern Miracle on 34th Street would follow years later), Christmas in Connecticut highlights the return to the domestic life which was on the mind of so many Americans at the war’s end. Amidst comedic escapades set around snowy sleigh rides, roaring fireplaces, and lavish Christmas trees, the film alludes to the importance of spending Christmas at home with family and friends. Even Alexander Yardley, an affluent publisher with many connections in the city, is drawn to spend his Christmas at the cheery family farm Elizabeth describes in her column. To Yardley and the returning soldier Jones, Elizabeth’s home captures the spirit of Christmas, beckoning them to leave the cold sterility of the city and the army hospital to spend the most important time of their year amidst the warmth of family life. 

As comedies of that era often do, Christmas in Connecticut uses hilarity to show the confusion and mayhem that follow when domestic structures are upended. Amidst the lighthearted chaos and hubbub, the film presents a strong emphasis on the importance of marriage. There’s a feeling that something in the home is not quite right since Elizabeth and her sappy fiancé John Sloan are not yet married. A series of twists and gags follow that continually thwart their plans for a Christmas Eve marriage. As fate has it, Elizabeth and the strapping young war hero Jones fall in love as they continually find themselves performing domestic chores together, from a humorous scene where Jones teaches Elizabeth how to properly bathe a baby to feeding the farm animals. It is amidst these duties of the home life that true love blossoms. 

Christmas is the season for returning home, pausing from the bustle of daily life and spending time with those you love. It's a time for laughter, joy and merriment around the hearth as the winter winds howl outside. Christmas in Connecticut perfectly encapsulates this domestic warmth and brings to mind Bing Crosby’s wartime holiday classic tune:

I'll be home for Christmas

You can plan on me

Please have snow and mistletoe

And presents on the tree

Christmas Eve will find me

Where the love light gleams

I'll be home for Christmas

If only in my dreams