Christmas in July

Directed by Preston Sturges, Christmas in July details the wackiness that ensues after an office worker (Dick Powell’s Jimmy MacDonald) is tricked into believing he’s won a $25,000 contest. It’s appealing subject matter that’s employed to predominantly entertaining, engaging effect by Sturges, as the filmmaker, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a briskly-paced endeavor that boasts, at its core, a tremendously appealing lead performance by Powell – with the actor’s affable efforts matched by top-notch periphery players like Ellen Drew, Ernest Truex, and Raymond Walburn. (The latter, cast as a larger-than-life businessman, offers up a deliciously larger-than-life turn that remains an ongoing highlight within the proceedings.) And while the picture admittedly does boast a small handful of lulls, particularly within the overly deliberate opening stretch, Christmas in July, buoyed by a midsection rife with funny, appealing set-pieces and digressions, builds towards a tremendously satisfying third act that ensures it ends on a positive note – thus cementing its place as a first-class comedy that runs an appreciatively brief 67 minutes.

*** out of ****