A 1949 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Robert Z Leonard, set in Chicago shortly after the turn of the 20th century and centered around two co-workers (Judy Garland and Van Johnson) with a mutual dislike for each other who find themselves conducting a mutually-anonymous romance through the mail.
The cast also includes S. Z. Sakall, Spring Byington, Clinton Sundberg, Buster Keaton, Lillian Bronson, and Marcia Van Dyke.
It was released by MGM on July 29, 1949.
Tropes in this film:
- Adaptational Location Change: From 1930s Budapest to 1900s Chicago.
- Doomed New Clothes: Happens to Veronica. It's not bad enough that she's carrying a parasol on a windy day, she has to get knocked over by a guy as part of a meet cute as well. Note that this can cross over with the old umbrella-getting-turned-inside-out gag for added pathos.
- The Film of the Play: Based on Miklos Laslzo's 1936 Hungarian play Parfumerie, which had previously been adapted to the screen as The Shop Around the Corner (and would later inspire You've Got Mail).
- Jukebox Musical: Apart from "Merry Christmas" (an original written for the film), the songs are all vintage tunes from the early-1900s period setting.
- Meet Cute: Veronica and Andrew. They bump into each other when Andrew is on his way to work and Veronica is on her way to look for a job. He knocks her hat off, accidentally puts a bird on her head, and then her skirt gets caught in his bike wheel as he drives off leaving her in her bloomies. Veronica then gets a job at the same store as Andrew.
- Opening Monologue: By an older Andrew, looking back on his young bachelorhood of some forty-odd years earlier.
- Setting Update: Inverted – while Parfumerie and The Shop Around the Corner both took place in the contemporary late 1930s, this film moves the setting back in time to the first decade of the 20th century.
- Tagline: "SONGS! TECHNICOLOR!".
- Titled After the Song: The 1902 ditty of the same name written by George Evans and Ren Shields.
