You were obviously looking at the technical differences between these movies, but what stood out for me when I saw "You've Got Mail" was how it was ALL about the two central characters, whereas the 1940 film gave time to the supporting characters and their plotlines. Is it also significant that in 1940 you could cast two top stars as "mere" shop assistants but now the stars have to be owners/managers of their own stores?

A lot of these changes are due to evolving technology too. Cameras used to be bigger, heavier, harder to move around. Film stock was expensive so it was more costly to do multiple takes. Editing took a lot more time when you had to literally cut and paste. It became more and more easy to shoot and cut more shots, especially when things moved over to digital.

I've come to love the longer takes of older films lately, they feel so relaxing and organic.

One of many reasons I love older movies are the longer unbroken takes. Not only is it less distracting but enhances the immersion by allowing the audience to feel we are there witnessing a real event. That's because they are shot more like it's really happening. I don't agree that they tie the hands of the editor, rather they demand better performances and camera work. We often see the results of the "fix it in post" approach not working.

One of the things about fewer takes is that the actors have to really be able to act. They have to be able to keep up the act for a long period of time. Shorter shots doesn't decrease the ability to act but it does release the worry because you can fix "it" in editing.

What is most striking to me is the difference in lighting. In the 40s film stock was less sensitive and lighting technology a lot more limited so they had to use huge lights hanging from the ceiling and the side that create this flat, even appearance and those tell-tale fake sharp - often multiple - shadows. In the 90s version the available dynamic range is so extreme they can use incidental lights in the background and make it look like it was captured IRL. And even though the leads are lit to textbook perfection, which is 100% fake, it still looks natural. And only a few years later Michael Mann would film Collateral with an even more sensitive digital cameras and LED lights changing what can be done in cinema again.

Fun Fact: For You've Got Mail, All of Joe and Kathleen's e-mails were put on the movie's official website which Warner Bros. kept active until 2018.

The Shop Around The Corner is such an underrated classic. Jimmy Stewart & Margaret Sullavan were a great pairing. Glad it's getting more recognition in modern times.

I think one of the most notable differences concerning the number of shots per scene is with dance scenes Fred Astaire insisted that cameras mainly showed his full body and had very few Cuts per dancing. Contrast that today when you never really get to see much in the way of dance moves from the dancers because everything is chopped up so much.

I've become so used to video essays ending with an ad read disguised as part of the essay that when Evan started his closing lines about watching this movie for the holiday season, I assumed he was delivering an ad for a streaming service. So I stopped the video and was about to go to something else when it occurred to me that I might be wrong. Sure enough, those lines really were part of the essay -- an actual conclusion, not a trick. I wonder whether youtube video essayists who play this game realize how much they are encouraging viewers to regard their work with suspicion when they try to force-feed us ad reads.

For me one of the main advantages - and challenges - of the long take was that it required the actors to act together and interact. For from giving less information, the long takes gave a lot more than the modern approach of now one person, now the other. The "advantage" of the modern approach is that it can hide poor acting - ie interaction. A pleasure of the long take is that I can watch a scene more than once, concentrating - as I choose - now on one actor, now on another - or shifting my gaze from one to another, as I might watching people on real life. I disagree with the basic premise that the old films give less or slower information. In fact each moment gives far more to enjoy.

The Shop Around the Corner is easily my favorite Christmas movie. And now that it's Christmas Eve, it's finally time to watch it again.

I'm not certain if it's a 'real' long take, but I always loved the opening shot in Serenity. Gives you character introductions while also making the ship feel like this real place.

a big reason that longer shots stand out is because the rest of the movie doesn't use them a lot. if most of the shots in a movie are long we stop noticing after the 3rd or 4th shot

There is another very important reason for the use of longer shots and more expressive camera positions and that is that the directors of the time did not have the final cut and still wanted to tell the stories without being cut or changed. John Ford was one of the directors who most perfected the technique of editing in filming, always trying to ensure that, if they tried to cut a shot, the story would not be understood.

It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, I love watching “The Shop Around the Corner.” The patter of each conversation between two actors has the same rhythm as the leading actors. I enjoy listening to the quips. Jimmy Stewart and Tom Hanks are two of my favorite actors. But, I would award the win to Shop Around the Corner! There is just so much more to watch including things in the background. I think many black and white movies were shot like that. Oh I do enjoy You’ve Got Mail. What first caught my eye after Tom Hanks was the fact that both leads owned bookstores! I can get lost in bookstores!

4:50 You mention attention span for the scene and I LOVE how you used Meg Ryan's character logging into the internet because that is the perfect example. The internet. Nowadays, we watch stuff online. Websites load in a second. When a video buffers, we get annoyed at having to wait. But the internet speeds back then was measured in kilobites, I remember ours was a 28k connection. That would practically be considered torture today but that was just normal back then. We didn't watch videos online. It would take an hour just to load a grainy clip that's a few seconds long. Websites, if they loaded in less than 30 seconds, that would be considered quick.

“If the regular length of a shot is increased, one becomes bored, but if you keep on making it longer, it piques your interest, and if you make it even longer, a new quality emerges, a special intensity of attention.” - Andrei Tarkovsky

You are spot-on with your comparisons. First off, I want to say that I would have loved the Judy Garland musical version better if Van Johnson wasn't in it. Gene Kelly would have been a better fit. They had chemistry together. That said, I always LOVED the "shop around the corner". The chemistry between Stewart and Sullivan was palpable, and it was blown off the screen with how the director captured it. I have always admired and appreciated Nora Ephron. Her updated version of this same plot which I hadn't known about the original (Hungarian play, "Parfumerie") was quite timely for the pivotal time it was made. I wonder if another update version was made now, would it be just a 38.3 second tiktok video?

I discovered The Shop Around The Corner about 4 years ago and it quickly became one of my favourites. I’ve also noticed and appreciated the style of directing that have more of a theatre influence, wider and longer shots that are often from a side angle almost positioned like a set. I feel it gives more influence to the scene and story. One Film I’ve just watched which is a perfect example of theatre directing and shots is “The Night of the Hunter” by Charles Laughton, the only film he directed and it’s basically a masterpiece

Shop Around the Corner is a wonderful film. As a enormous Jimmy Stewart fan, it's always in my rotation when I binge his work every few years. ❤

Your commentary covers something I've been thinking about for a while now. There's something that forces you to be more present with long shots, deliberate or not, aesthetic choice or invisible norm.

Shop around the corner was always a favorite. I liked the technical commentary, and I agree with the guy who talked about the advances in technology making some things easier to do. When I was a kid, and I was finally allowed to put my hands on an 8mm camera, and beg the use of a single reel of film, I wanted to make a little movie, but I wouldn't see the mistakes I was making until after the film was developed. I had some sense of staging and blocking, but I found out there were serious problems with lighting that I hadn't anticipated. There were no resources for a second try. I enjoyed "You've Got Mail" and I knew it was a remake or an homage, so I couldn't help but compare them. The thing that struck me was the blatent change in what I considered a major theme. It was no longer a humble love affair between a couple of poor employees, but between a rarefied couple of the ownership class. he owned a chain of bookstores and she owned a single, chic bookstore. Notice, they would not have reversed it to her ownership of a chain of bookstores and his ownership of a chic little bookstore. Maybe an antique bookstore. That would have violated the romantic trope that no matter how rich a woman is the man has to be much richer. They certainly can't both be poor, as in the original. Romance is not possible for poor people, so the poor had just better give up all hope. The ideas they put in people's heads are as much about what they don't say. What they would never say. They would not have made it a movie about a man who manages a bookstore and a woman who works there. There might have been a question of sexual harassment to deal with. That would have added a twist if she levelled a complaint of sexual harassment against him before learning of his identity. A good writer could make it funny. Hollywood could no longer imagine a romance in one little shop around the corner, that is: a basically unimportant place, between basically unimportant people. Did you notice how posh their environment is? That's the most striking difference. Hollywood was teaching women to have posh dreams. Maybe their imaginations would make a lot of cuts and takes too.

Amazing video, as always. Was curious about one point: What about silent films that had insane montages with the craziest fast editing I’ve ever seen? I feel like a lot of the style of the 30s and 40s movies is because of the introduction of sound. Suddenly things were filmed on sound stages and cameras couldn’t move and actors couldn’t move as much. I feel like then Hollywood movies BECAME more like theater as a result of this new technology. I think the points in the video still stand, but from what I’ve gathered, the introduction of sync sound recording had a huge influence on these later stylistic limitations.

Over the last five years or so, “Shop” has definitely become a new family favorite to watch at Christmas. I’m always excited to hear any discussion about the adaptations of this great story. Nicely done!

I knew this film was going to be nostalgic and appreciative of the 1944 version but I watched it and felt incredibly nostalgic over the coloring and lighting of Nora Ephron's version... it looks so beautiful and cinematic next to our current crop of commercial studio/streaming films

Of course, long shots are always praised in cinema, because of its challenging nature for performance, camera operating, blocking, every detail of planning.

"All acting is reacting" overstates a bit but is mostly true. Shot reverse shot decides for the viewer when and whether they will see the actor delivering the line or the one reacting. It plays better on smaller screens than a 2-shot. OTOH longer takes and 2-shots feels more fly-on-the-wall. It increases the tension and presence and relies more on the actors to deliver the timing and feel that are especially key to this kind of comedy.

One of my go to movies for the holidays. You can't beat Jimmy Stewart for his subtle intensity. One of these days, I'll have to watch the others too

The same way you can look at "The Visit" or "The Visit of the Old Lady", that was adapted to screens and television quite a lot. And because of its grim plot, it sometimes it was made as a comedy

Jimmy Stewart was such a good actor, I wish he did more movies.

Just caught The Shop Around the Corner at my local one screen theater and it was so wonderful. Jimmy Stewart is the most captivating actor.

I loved both of these movies and for some reason didn't know one was a direct remake of the other! 😅 As you said, the plot is so perfect for a romantic comedy; I thought they were both just utilizing the same tropes. This is such an interesting way to interact with film and film history. I've often used book-to-film adaptations as a way to study, but I think I'm now going to have to make a list of remakes over the decades. Oceans Eleven is one of my favorite examples, but I'll have to dig deeper to find more. What a great idea!

ahhh nerwriter1, thank you for honoring jimmy stewart during the holiday season! a man special to my heart. i'm glad you chose to highlight a film no one talks about. much love during the holiday season to you and yours

This video really drives home the point one of my cinema professors used to make. He was a huge fan of Orson Welles and the way he used the "plan sequence" which is often confused with the long take. The fact that Welles knew how to make things stand out even without zooming in on them or making it obvious was a treasure that much of modern cinema couldn't do without. I think this is how I learned to put in words what I loved about older movies, and it's especially refreshing to see that this kind of filmmaking still exists and has also transformed itself in different cultures of cinema across the world. Most people have no idea what a plan sequence is today, but they consume media in a very similar way that people in the 40s used to do. It makes you feel the very certain way you describe in this video, and I think that is something that any movie watcher can appreciate. Thank you for making this video, I'm certain this kind of conversation will hold up for years to come.

I generally prefer an editing with long old school shots. I also prefer a balanced mix of static and dynamic shots. I think that movies from the 80s/90s onwards, with their quasi-psychedelic style of dynamic shots and hundreds of cuts in small intervals, have become too chaotic on the visual side and too weak on the dramatic/narrative side (I'm speaking in statistical terms and in comparative terms).

I haven’t really seen either movie, but just from the differences of the displayed in this video, I feel like both are useful in their own ways but that I would prefer the frequent back-and-forth shots as it physically creates a division between the actors that matches how they feel about each other. It feels a lot more like an argument than just a conversation.

Lost time for movies this year, so this video was a really nice reminder to look out for and appreciate the details in filmmaking that I'd originally fallen in love with. Great video, glad to find this channel!

Just finished reading your book yesterday and absolutely loved it. It was truly inspiring specially since I've been working on dealing with my own self-doubt and that last essay just did me in. Great job!! Keep up the great work!

Seasons Greetings to you Evan! I'm adding this one to my to-watch list along with other movie recommendations from your good self such as: In the Mood for Love, every frame a painting.

I LOVE You've Got Mail but I had no ide it was a remake. You did such an amazing job with this video (as you usually do) that I'm ready to give the original a watch before the end of the year. Thank you so much for this, and happy holidays to you too!!!

Was just scouring Spotify podcasts for something new, I wondered, "Does The Nerdwriter have a podcast?" My optimism skyrocketed, only to be met with disappointment-no podcast! Dude, whyyyyy noooot? It would be pure joy! Make it happen! 🎙🔥

Thank you, Nerdwriter for this amazing Christmas gift to us who follow your channel! Merry Christmas to you! PS: i don't know if this is an "algorythm thing" but I have been feeling the urge of watching films from the 90's (when I grew up) and from the 40's, and your video has been a great way of connecting both, as well as recommending me a fil mthat I have never watched: The Shop around the Corner. Thanks! :)

One of the few great recommendations I have now for the holidays. Thanks!

This channel makes me want to go back to the 80s and 1)make my college film proffesor 10% as interesting as this and 2)make my dumb young self pay attention in film class and all the cool things about it and not a just class I took because it was an easy grade for football. Keep up the great work. My wife and I always enjoy watching the videos

Thank for this insightful and elaborated review. I especially liked how you explain the use of space. A good video for teaching.

Bought your book a while back and finished it on a flight to Lisbon this week with the family for the holidays. Watched this video from there and now have The Shop around the Corner on my list.

Happy Holidays to you as well, Evan! Lovely and interesting video, thanks! (I'm a Lubitsch fan). I's serves as an excellent explanation, context is always important to valutate everything).

I just had my wife watch this a few days ago, my favorite “Christmas movie”! Great pick.

I got a paperback copy of your book of essays for Christmas, first one about Emerson started off amazing. Great work, happy to be able to read it :)

Thank you for telling about this film! You've got a mail wasn't persuasive at all, but this one is heart- and eye-warming, a gem!

Great timing! Just watched The Shop Around the Corner for the first time earlier today!

The 1998 version LOOKS amazing! The coulours and the lighting in that restaurant scene are magnificent!

We appreciate how well you've articulated your insights on this matter. Keep working hard.

This was masterfully done Evan -- one aspect that jumped out during the scenes you posted, though, was the extent to which I could 'see' Tom Hanks' character through what was on his face vs. Jimmy Stewart's who you really had to hear speak to get a sense of him. Your comparisons of the two periods of filmmaking are dead on -- it strikes me, though, that the films closer to our time period (or maybe it's the actors?) portray a great deal more without actual exposition -- and maybe that is, in fact, tied up in how they're shot.

Happy Holidays from Spain, Evan. I love your videos.

I had no idea about any of these movies or the fact that this story’s been remade but from the first 2 minutes I can already tell this is going to be just a brilliant video essay, love your work, always surprising in the best ways.

Oh wow. I just found this movie when scrolling the streaming platforms and decided to watch it based on a whim. What a wonderful gift to see your thoughts, how they mirror my own, and that we were on the same page this holiday season when considering what to watch!

I'm not sold on the idea of movies being influenced by music videos and commercials. I feel like TV would be the key to differentiate 1940 and 1998. Especially the multi-cam sitcoms, where the editing style is more rapid.

Love a bit of Jimmy Stewart. And Tommy Hanks.

The Shop Around The Corner is a beautiful movie. A longtime favorite that I stumbled upon AFTER You've Got Mail was produced. I enjoy both.

I recently found this movie over the holiday on tv and watched it. I really did like it and I have always liked you got mail. Meg Ryan fan. Thank you for your video. It was really interesting to learn about filming techniques.

Two of my favorite movies are The Shop Around and Corner and Trouble in Paradise. Both are Directed by Ernst Lubitsch! Thank you for this video!!

I love this video I really like your voiceover and the way I feel like I learned so much so easily Cinema is something that I'm just starting to learn about, and I adore it Keep it up :)

I read your book. Well done! It was great read - (no surprise) : ) I really enjoyed it. Keep doing what your doing. You have a gift for teaching and writing. Happy Holidays.

Merry Christmas man, love you

The discussion of the progression of pop culture attention span and story complexity was addressed wonderfully in "Everything Bad is Good For You", which is a personal favorite of mine but probably expressed in many forms by many observers.

Jimmy Stewart is slowly becoming my favourite actor. He is just so natural. Nothing feels forced when he is on screen.

Being on set we use shot to mean times we changed the frame(for shot-reverse shot that’s only 2 shots even if the editors cut between them 8 times) so I was positively flabbergasted at the number of “shots” from you’ve got mail until you explained you were referring to the cuts.

Thank you so much for the video. Because of this i watched 'You Got Mail' again to feel the Christmas Holidays. Thank you so much

Really love the shop around the corner

Everytime i finish a video, i wonder and wander for the next one. Hope you are well and enjoying your holiday, my fav youtuber ❤

@nerdwriter1 Thank you for the Christmas Eve posting!

Thank you for introducing me to The Shop Around the Corner. Can't wait to watch it.

Love this! Thanks for uploading.

March 2024 and I just discovered your channel. I love it! Congratulations on your great content. Can't wait for more

I believe you could do this with Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle too. The movie The Courtship of Eddie's Father is very similar to Sleepless. Shirley Jones is only across the hallway from Glenn Ford, but it may as well have been three thousand miles as with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. There is a restaurant scene in both, where the little boy is not happy with the father's current girlfriend, that are quite alike. I always thought of the later film as an "unofficial" remake.

The earlier version is more visually literate; has visual depth, is beautifully framed and lit. In contrast, 'You've Got Mail' is flat.

Fantastic! Thought provoking, educational, and timely!

wow i watched nerd writer way back maybe 2016 or earlier? its been so long glad to see hes reached 3mil thats amazing and well deserved. he really does his videos with execellence.

Wonderful essay. Thank you.

I'd never seen The Shop Around The Corner before, but I watched this video Christmas Eve morning and decided to make it our movie for the night. Wife and I loved it. So thank you.

Watched "You've got mail" last night. I had NO idea it was a remake! 😱

I remember when "You've God Mail" released, I was a little obsessed with it. I was at University at the time, and driving an hour and a half one way, to and from my home and school. For about a month I would stop once a week at a theater on my route and watch this movie on my way home. And when it came out on DVD I bought it and watched every behind-the-scenes video and listend to the Director's Commentary. I can't say for sure why the movie resonated so well with me, but I consider it a classic. And I do think it's a perfect movie to break down for learning to tell a story in beats, to craft a scene, to use measured pacing. Thanks for this comparison. Now I'm going to go watch all of these films for Christmas.

You actually mentioned In the Good Ol' Summertime! I had seen that before You've Got Mail came out and in the years before the Internet, I had no idea The Shop Around Corner existed until then. Most youtubers will leave out the Judy Garland version and I'm so glad you included it here.

Always love your videos. I *think* that rapid edits really took sway with Sesame Street and the research they were doing.

Shop Around the Corner is one of my favorite movies ever! Thanks so much for reminding us all how well it was made!

Just look at the public reaction to the John Wick series taking action back to longer takes, fewer jump cuts and the impact of sustained action and I think you'd agree the time is ripe for dramatic directors to swing the pendulum back, too

I agree that The shop around the Corner, Jimmy Stewart, is one of my favourite films. I did like You've got mail, but when I saw it -even for the first time - I was mentally comparing it.

Meg Ryan's line comes across like a sitcom stab. I half expected the laugh track. The line from the Shop was a burning, firey insult.

This is an interesting analysis. The methodology of making a film has changed so much.

You’ve got a mail is one of my favourite Christmas movies. Merry Christmas everyone ❤

I did happen to watch the 1940, during Christmas season. Enjoyable and appreciated your commentary.

Thanks for the recommendation ❤❤

"You've Got Mail" was made AFTER the advent of the music video. Short snippets of scenes is to give the effect that the video is moving along quicker than it actually is. The modern attention span has become shorter and shorter as well. Partly due to this age of instant gratification, the remote, the microwave, etc.

Love this. Thanks!

This is wonderful. Thank you.

This is an absolutely well done critic. I really appreciate this one especially.

excellent as alwsys Evan! I have your book but am greatly hampered by struggling with "long covid" for last 5 months and that includes poor short term memory ... wish you a great Christmas and most excellent New Year ... best regards Keith Mockett

Thanks Evan for this beautiful explanation