The most pleasantly surprising thing to happen to me in life so far has been winning a video contest for Brian Wilson’s song “Heroes & Villains”. I was stunned my stop-motion video won. In fact, I still can’t believe it. With the increasing distance of time, I can see how my contest entry actually isn’t very good.
Neither is Dick Powell’s entry in a contest to create a new slogan for a coffee company in 1940’s Christmas in July: “If you don’t sleep at night, it isn’t the coffee that keeps you awake—it’s the bunk.” If that doesn’t make sense, you’re not alone, as he is under the unusual misconception coffee makes you sleepy.
Still, he receives a telegram at work saying he’s the winner, he goes to the offices of “Maxford” House Coffee and collects a check for $25,000. I didn’t receive any money for my winning video (as I actually won something that money can’t buy), and definitely not $25,000, which would be slightly more than $440,000 in 2025 when adjusted for inflation.
With that money, Powell and Ellen Drew can finally tie the knot. They go to a large, prestigious department store and buy a ring she loves, as well as something for every single person in the slum where they live. Most importantly, he buys for his mother what she’s always wanted: a davenport that folds out into a bed. He buys the top-of-the-line model which, at the push of a button, automatically retracts various compartments and the bed, ending up once again as a sofa—and that is after it even fluffs the bed.
It takes several taxis to unload all the gifts, and the neighborhood is whipped up into such a frenzy that a literal carnival ensues. Then the guys from the store arrive to try to take everything back. Then Raymond Walburn, the head of Maxford House Coffee, arrives as well. You see, no contest winner had been decided yet, as jury for the competition was still deadlocked in a room so full of smoke and testosterone that it puts the jury room in 12 Angry Men to shame.
Even worse, Powell had been made an executive at work as a result of increased focus on him and his alleged brilliance. As the old saying goes, “success has many fathers”, and it is telling how the head of that company (Ernest Truex) thinks any slogans Powell can create for his firm must be great, because they were good enough to win a contest for which there were over a million entries: “I didn’t hang onto my money by backing my own judgment. I know your ideas are good because you won over millions of aspirants.”
There’s an interesting edge to this comedy. Despite being solidly screwball fare, it feels like there are some significant stakes at play. This is a Preston Sturges movie and, while it never becomes as serious as the most somber parts of his Sullivans Travels, it does have such heartfelt lines as this one from Drew: “It’s one thing to muff a chance when you’ve had it. It’s another to never have had it at all.”
There’s a great deal to like here, though the endeavor feels a bit slight, and it has a curiously rushed ending. All the leads are solid in rather thinly defined roles. Of the many bit parts, William Demerest shines the brightest, as the sole dissenting vote on the slogan committee.
Even for a screwball comedy, disbelief has to be suppressed a bit more strongly than usual. Regardless of how sick Walburn may be of the deadlocked jury, I refuse to believe he would just write a check for that much money and send Powell and Drew on their way without checking in with that committee first.
Even less believable is the department store letting everyone have the goods they were initially there to repossess. This change of mind happens when the department store owner believes he can take Walburn to court for indemnification. Really, that would be a matter between Powell and Walburn, and there isn’t any reason for the store to put themselves in the middle of that fight.
That said, there is a great deal to enjoy in Christmas in July. There are all kinds of kooky characters saying interesting things, which I have come to expect from a Sturges picture. Consider this one: “I’ll conclude with what the condemned man said when they couldn’t find the rope: no noose is good noose.” I also like what Fred Toones says in response to Powell asking if it is a good thing or a bad thing when a black cat crosses your path: “I guess it all depends upon what happens afterward.”
As for my 15 minutes of almost-fame following my contest win, opportunities I hoped would result largely did not materialize, but just being chosen as the winner was something I will always remember, and it makes for a unique story to tell. As for Powell, his future is more ambiguous in the picture’s final minute. Still, he need to not worry about the black cat that has just crossed his path. Living with two of them, I can tell you, it’s always good news.
Dir: Preston Sturges
Starring Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn
Watched on Kino Lorber blu-ray