Coffee company clerk Dick Powell (as Jimmy MacDonald) enters a sloganeering contest with the catchphrase: "If You Can't Sleep at Night, It Isn't the Coffee, It's the Bunk!" Mr. Powell thinks the slogan is as "clear as crystal," but pretty, pragmatic girlfriend Ellen Drew (as Betty Casey) is unmoved. Although his slogan is confusing, Powell is optimistic about winning the $25,000 prize. The next day, Powell is anxious to learn if he's won the contest; and, three of his practical-joking co-workers send him a phony telegram stating, "We take great pleasure in informing you that your slogan has won the twenty-five thousand dollar first prize…" Powell excitedly picks up his prize, from cantankerous Raymond Walburn (as Maxford), who doesn't know his executives haven't yet picked the winner. Powell plans his wedding to Ms. Drew, and buys gifts for most of the people in his lower-class neighborhood. Drew says he's spending money like it's "Christmas in July." Then, the prank is discovered…Writer/director Sturges' bright satire is still amusing, after all these years. Like "Maxwell House" coffee, it's "Good to the Last Drop" - perhaps, the story could be revised, for the "Starbucks" era (many of the Sturges lines don't need changing). The supporting players - Mr. Walburn (Maxford), Alexander Carr (Schindel), William Demarest (Bildocker), Ernest Truex (Baxter), and others - are excellent.******** Christmas in July (10/18/40) Preston Sturges ~ Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn

As the follow up to "The Great McGinty" Preston Sturgis returned to an old play of his that was written in 1931 and called "A Cup Of Coffee". Sturgis, for all of his cynical slant in his comedies and screenplays, had a pretty accurate view of the American Dream. In "Christmas In July" the hero is trying to make it to fame and fortune overnight - by winning a jingle/slogan contest on the radio. And the truth of the situation is far more complicated than we credit it in being. Powell has entered every contest he can, figuring that the law of averages will eventually come to his assistance and win him the big prize. He doesn't stop to think that the same viewpoint is held by everyone else who is competing against him. He also does not like the regular hard work ethic that is pushed by his office manager (Harry Hayden) to concentrate on his job and you will be a success - not spectacular but one who meets his debts and looks the world in the eye. Powell is not opposed to hard work, but he hates being one of the herd of numberless drudges like most of us.He has gotten three of his office friends so fed up with his constant sweep-stake fantasies that they decide to send him a fake telegram that he has won the Maxford House Coffee sweepstakes. He has a slogan "If you find you can't sleep at night, it is not the coffee, it's the bunk!" Cute (a pun of course), he keeps explaining it to everyone who couldn't care less. But the Maxford House Radio show which was supposed to find a winner is unable to reach a timely decision (William Demerest is trying to convince them to favor one that he thinks is a snappy slogan, and Robert Warwick wants a more formal and dignified short slogan). Taking advantage of this impossible tie situation, the trio send their false telegram - and Powell and his girlfriend Ellen Drew go crazy.But that's just it - everyone goes crazy. Powell's boss Ernest Truex, who has rarely given him a second glance, when he hears about this thinks Powell is a business genius and starts considering promoting him. The staff of his accounting firm and various businessmen all bow and scrape to him. The three friends who play the joke find it has gotten so out-of-control that they can't stop it (they don't dare to). The joke even is pulled over the coffee company owner, Dr. Maxford (Raymond Walburn, who almost steals the film from Powell). Maxford is disgusted by the way the slogan jury under Demerest won't do as he orders, and he is totally prepared to accept the fake telegram as proof that the same committee didn't even bother to notify their employer first!The film is pretty funny throughout, as Powell enjoys the height of glory and the depth of despair as the truth about the telegram hits Maxford and the people from whom Powell has been buying goods (gifts for his family and friends - since it is summer the title of the film makes sense). But in a society that worships success, should it penalize someone who innocently seemed to be successful but wasn't? The conclusion of the film suggests that some trial and error is required, but Sturgis still finds that the hand of fate may be necessary to allow someone to show his or her full potential.

"Christmas in July" (Paramount, 1940), the second feature entirely written, produced and directed by Preston Sturges, following his initial success of "The Great McGinty" (1940), ranks the director's most mellow comedies, compared to his future efforts as "Miracle on Morgan's Creek" 1944). In spite of his reputation for his wild and crazy plots, along with his familiar assortment of bizarre characters, "Christmas in July" could understandably be mistaken for a Frank Capra film, a theme not so much on how a good fortune changes the common man, but how much the common man unselfishly changes the lives for the good of others.The plot is relatively simple: James MacDonald (Dick Powell) and his fiancé, Betty Casey (Ellen Drew), sit on the rooftop of their New York City apartment building listening to the radio where the name of the contest winner for the best slogan is to be announced. Wondering about the delay, Maxford (Raymond Walburn), president of Maxford House Coffee Company, heads over to the room where he finds the jury (consisting of Sturges stock players of Dewey Robinson, Arthur Hoyt, James Conlin and Robert Warwick), headed by its foreman, Bildocker (William Demarest), unable to decide upon the winner. With time running out, Maxford has the very nervous Donald Hartman (Franklin Pangborn) go on air to postpone the name of the winner until further notice. Because he had entered many contests in the past, Jimmy is confident that his slogan,"If you can't sleep, it isn't the coffee; it's the bunk." to be a sure winner. The following morning, Jimmy reports to his office clerical job to find a telegram on his desk naming him as winner of the Maxford contest. Overly excited, Jimmy stands on top of his desk where he makes his announcement to his fellow co-workers. Not only does Mr. Waterbury (Harry Hayden), his supervisor, grants him time off to collect his $25,000 prize, but he is immediately promoted to vice-president under Mr. Baxter (Ernest Truex) as a reward for his good fortune. After Jimmy collects the check from Maxford, who's unaware and confused why he hasn't been informed of the jury's decision, Jimmy takes Betty to Schidel's Department Storewhere where he buys her an engagement ring, and using the rest of the check to purchase gifts for everybody in his neighborhood. The Christmas in July celebration comes an abrupt end when Maxford, realizing his error after finding Bildocker still unable to come up with the decision, to arrive at the scene, accompanied by Mr. Schnidel (Alexander Carr) of the department store, to take back everything, including the check, and expose Jimmy as a fraud. A neighborhood riot ensues before Jimmy and Betty are confronted by three of their co-workers, Tom (Michael Morris), Dick (Rod Cameron) and Harry (Harry Rosenthal) who confess to what was originally intended as a practical joke. Now that reality has set in, what's Jimmy to do? Will he be working a lot of overtime hours to pay for his purchases? Will Maxford sponsor more contests? Will the judges get to come up with the winner before next Christmas?A Christmas story that's not necessarily about Christmas nor the 4th of July for that matter, but how it is more blessed to give than to receive every day of the year, not just on Christmas. While "Christmas in July" is at best when poking fun of the current trend of radio contests, the story simmers down only when centering upon the poverty-stricken couple Jimmy and Betty, yet, in true Preston Sturges tradition, throws in surprises here and there to hold interest and keep his audience laughing and completely satisfied in how everything is resolved. As much as Sturges could have selected good-natured actors as Gary Cooper, James Stewart or Henry Fonda in the leads, Dick Powell, former crooner of Warner Brothers musicals from the 1930s, making his Paramount debut, turns out to be a fine choice, particularly at this point of renewing his screen image. Aside from the plot it development of its leading characters, Jimmy being an average guy, engaged to a nice girl, living with his widowed mother (Georgia Caine) in a tenement apartment whose ambition is to succeed, Sturges also does a remarkable job with his assortment of neighbors of different ethnic background gathered together in the neighborhood sequence to appear very much true to life. He adds a touch of sentimentality with a memorable bit as Jimmy awards Sophie (Sheila Sheldon), a wheelchair bound girl, with an expensive doll she can call her own. Surprised as well as speechless, she looks up to Jimmy before hugging the gift like a new born baby, which is enough thanks any giver can ever receive. And thanks to Sturges for such a fine motion picture leaving us with something to think about, "If you can't sleep, it isn't the coffee; it's the bunk." This seldom revived comedy gem that says it in 67 minutes made it to video cassette in 1985 at a high price of $59.95, followed by several cable television presentations, such as the Disney Channel (1991- 1996) and Turner Classic Movies where it premiered in 2002. It's 2006 availability on DVD will assure renewed interest for both movie and the comedy films of Preston Sturges. (***1/2)

This was one of Preston Sturges's best movies on his first time directing that included "The Great McGinty" and "The Lady Eve. The movie stars Dick Powell and Ellen Drew as a couple who are engaged but Powell wants to wait to get married because they don't make enough money and his mind is on a contest for $25,000 that he entered for a slogan of a coffee company. Powell's friends at work play a trick on him by writing a fake letter saying he won the prize money but once Powell opens it they can't get to him on time to tell him it's a fake. Then Powell gets a promotion and starts to buy everything for all his friends and family but not knowing it's a fake. It's a very funny movie that's one of Sturges's least known work.