In 1940 a sweet little romantic movie with James Stewart and Margret Sullivan hit the silver screen. It was a comedy called 'The Shop Around the Corner'.

In 1949 a sweet little romantic movie with Van Johnson and Judy Garland hit the big screen. It was a musical comedy called 'In the Good Old Summertime'.

In 1998 a sweet little romantic movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan hit the big screen. It was a comedy called 'You've Got Mail'.

Over a span of 58 years, Hollywood made the same story three times. The 1940 and 1949 versions are near-duplicates. A change of location, a change of decade, a tweaking of some characters, and the addition of a musical score but from the opening scenes, you can tell it is a remake.

The 1998 movie is a little more difficult to discern as being a revamp. The decades are vastly different, for the music business to the book business and additional characters.

The core plot, however, is the same in all three, man and woman with enmity for one another fall in love but they do not know with whom they are falling in love.

The first two movies they fall in love as penpals (Pen Pals were people that exchanged information by letter, snail-mail, regular post. In the third movie, they fall in love via AOL. For the young and young at heart, AOL was one of the first internet providers, long before the smartphone, Google, Facebook, and Instagram. There was not even Twitter. What a world?

The first movie is in glorious black and white, the second and third are technicolor and widescreen.
For the purest, I would say that the 1940 version is the best. For seekers of romance and screen chemistry, it will be the 1998 version.

My favorite is the 1949 version, I love Judy Garland, and admire Van Johnson. The songs are spot on and have your toes tapping. The supporting cast to me is the best out of all the movies.
My Rateing 1940 3 Rikki's
1949 4 Rikki's
1998 3 Rikki's.
Good Viewing.