Christmas in July

Christmas in July (1940) is a Preston Sturges comedy you can watch online on iFILM. Jimmy MacDonald is a low-paid office clerk who pours every free hour into writing slogans for advertising contests, certain that one big win will let him marry his sweetheart Betty.

Then his co-workers play a cruel little joke: a faked telegram telling Jimmy he's won the $25,000 grand prize in the Maxford House coffee contest. He believes it instantly. Suddenly there's a raise, a shopping spree on credit, gifts handed out to the whole neighborhood — and a lie that gets harder to walk back by the minute.

This was Sturges' first film as director, and the rapid-fire dialogue already crackles the way his later classics would. Dick Powell and Ellen Drew lead a cast packed with familiar character actors, all in a tight 67 minutes. Stream Christmas in July (1940) online on iFILM.