Christmas in July Blu-ray

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Preston Sturges
USA 1940

From Preston Sturges, the legendary writer/director of The Lady Eve, The Great McGinty, The Palm Beach Story and The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek comes this classic screwball comedy full of joy and laughter. A workplace practical joke goes awry when an office clerk (Dick Powell, Pitfall), believing he has won a $25,000 prize, takes his girlfriend (Ellen Drew, The Crooked Way) on an extravagant Christmas shopping spree... in the middle of July. After they discover it was all a hoax, their spending spree turns into a wild slapstick riot. More than just a holiday heart-warmer, this madcap masterpiece is a classic gift of laughter that is perfect for every season. Beautifully shot in black-and-white by the great Victor Milner (Reap the Wild Wind, Cleopatra).

***

An office clerk loves entering contests in the hopes of someday winning a fortune and marrying the girl he loves. His latest attempt is the Maxford House Coffee Slogan Contest. As a joke, some of his co-workers put together a fake telegram which says that he won the $25,000 grand prize. As a result, he gets a promotion, buys presents for all of his family and friends, and proposes to his girl. When the truth comes out, he's not prepared for the consequences.

***

This modest Preston Sturges comedy stars Dick Powell as an office clerk dreaming of better things and Ellen Drew as his more pragmatic girlfriend. Powell convinces himself that his fortune will be made if he can win a slogan contest sponsored by a coffee company. Powell's contribution: "If you can't sleep at night, it isn't the coffee, it's the bunk!" Three of Powell's fellow workers decide to have some fun with him; they fake a telegram which announces that he's won the contest. The deception snowballs to the point that even the head of the coffee firm (Raymond Walburn) labors under the misapprehension that Powell has won. When the painful truth is revealed, Powell finds himself broke (because of all the creature comforts he's bought) and jobless, but at least he's retained the love of his wife. A cute deus ex machina to the story appears in the person of William Demarest, the foreman of the "jury" that is judging the slogan contest.

Excerpt from B+N located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 18th, 1940

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Universal - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover
Distribution	Universal Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:07:20	1:07:16.907
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 8.27 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 1080P Sing.-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 20,274,415,986 bytes Feature: 18,975,897,600 bytes Video Bitrate: 33.89 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital mono)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1553 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1553 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English, French, Spanish, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Universal Pictures Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Theatrical Trailers for all except Hail the Conquering Hero DVD Release Date: November 21st, 2006 (see image at top and below) Chapters: various	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.33:1 1080P Sing.-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 20,274,415,986 bytes Feature: 18,975,897,600 bytes Video Bitrate: 33.89 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian Samm Deighan Trailer (1:49) Blu-ray Release Date: November 26th, 2019 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 9

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (November 2019): Kino have transferred Preston Sturges' Christmas in July to Blu-ray. It is advertised as being from a "Brand New 4K Master". I appreciated the layered contrast, especially in darker scenes (on the roof) and the presentation has a textured thickness not present on the SD. This 1080P looked sweet with no damage or prevalent speckles on a single-layered disc with a very high bitrate. Flawless in-motion.

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master2.0 channel mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. There aren't many extravagant effects but an effective, uncredited, score by John Leipold (Murder in the Zoo, The Devil is a Woman, The Flying Deuces, Duck Soup and Those Redheads from Seattle, Preston Sturges's The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels), plus Will Jason and Val Burton's When We're Along (Penthouse Serenade) used as background music behind Dick Powell and Ellen Drew in rooftop scene, and later throughout the film. sounding supportive and consistent. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

Kino are the new 'king of commentaries' with another detailed discussion by Film Historian Samm Deighan who identifies the philanthropic/monetary angle to many of Preston Sturges's films citing examples and she fills the 1-hour 7-minutes with interesting information on the production, cast but mostly on the director/writer Sturges. There is also a trailer for the feature and other trailers.

A Christmas 'title' that's not about Christmas is a prototypical Sturges film filled with comedy, with smatterings of pathos and joy. Christmas in July is short at just over an hour, and not often cited in the director's more lauded titles (The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek etc.), but is nonetheless a minor masterwork that I am very pleased to own on a 4K-restored Blu-ray. Recommended!