Cast and Crew:  Jack L. Warner (Executive Producer)

What It’s About:  After their ship sinks, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) and Sinkewicz (Frank Jenks) spend six weeks on a life raft dreaming of eating delicious (and elaborate) meals. After their rescue Jones is still fantasizing of spending Christmas with his favorite food columnist, Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck), who lives on a farm in Connecticut with her husband and baby.  Jones’s nurse, Mary Lee (Joyce Compton) asks Lane’s publisher, Arthur Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) if he can arrange for Jones to spend Christmas at Lane’s farm. Yardley, currently on a diet of turnip fluff, loves the idea so much he invites himself along.

There’s just one problem:  Lane is a fraud. She isn’t married, doesn’t have a child, and can’t cook. Instead she lives the high life in New York City, dodging marriage proposals from her architect friend John Sloan (Reginald Gardinier) and getting all of her recipe ideas from her favorite restaurateur, Felix (S.Z. Sakal).  Luckily, suitor Sloan has a farm in Connecticut, the farm she modeled her columns on and one of the neighbors leaves her baby at the farm for Sloan’s maid, Norah (Una O’Connor) to take care of while she’s at her job at a munitions factory, and “Uncle” Felix agrees to come along and handle the cooking.  Can Elizabeth keep the deception going for the entire holiday, while avoiding Sloan’s attempts to actually marry her and managing the growing mutual attraction between herself and Jefferson Jones?

Why Watch it Today?: Today is the last day of work at the college I work at, and the first day of vacation at my alma mater, both dates I associate with returning to my home state of Connecticut.  Safe travels to all traveling this holiday season and a restful time off to all leaving work and school for break this week!  May I recommend relaxing with this delightful screwball romp which pokes gleeful fun at the vision of the holiday promoted by the media, still relevant in this era of over achieving icons like Martha Stewart?

Where to Get It:  Libraries, Netflix (Rental) or online at Amazon, iTunes, and Vudu