Holiday (1938)
Holiday (1938)
A Film by George Cukor
DVD5 | ISO+MDS | NTSC 4:3 (720x480) | 01:35:49 | 3,99 Gb
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean
Genre: Comedy, Romance | Nominated for Oscar | USA
A Film by George Cukor
DVD5 | ISO+MDS | NTSC 4:3 (720x480) | 01:35:49 | 3,99 Gb
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean
Genre: Comedy, Romance | Nominated for Oscar | USA
Barry's high-style comedy suited Hepburn wonderfully, and this satire on the egotism and selfishness of the upper classes (the wealthy) in the States gave her a vehicle so finely tuned that it paved the way for her even greater success two years later with an option on his The Philadelphia Story. Here she plays the older sister in a family which boasts an alcoholic brother and a younger sister engaged to a struggling lawyer (Grant) who brings a welcome note of dissension into the household. Naturally, he ends up with the sparky Ms Hepburn. Cukor's elegant grasp of the original drama ensures a silkily smooth transition from stage to screen.
IMDB
Why is The Philadelphia Story so well known, while the equally unforgettable Holiday, from the same director, writers, and leads, suffers comparative neglect?
Both are romantic comedies — or comedic romances? — starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, directed by George Cukor, and written by Donald Ogden Stewart from Philip Barry stage plays. With their light comic touch, romantic complications, and class consciousness, both films superficially resemble screwball comedy, yet neither is quite screwball. The lack of bizarre situations and outlandish behavior, the nuanced, sympathetic characterizations, and the rich, resonant dialogue all set them apart from screwball classics like Bringing Up Baby or My Man Godfrey.
Holiday (1938)
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Where The Philadelphia Story is more satiric, Holiday is more compassionate and bittersweet. Its premise — working-class man falls in love with society heiress — may be familiar, but it eschews such plot mechanics as comic misunderstandings and elaborate deceptions; the story begins with Johnny Case (Grant) discovering the truth about the Seton family fortune, and it never looks back. Even when Johnny’s intended insists that he wear a borrowed tie to meet her father, and Daddy recognizes the tie, there’s no attempted cover-up — just a cheerful admission of the truth. (Even The Philadelphia Story had its "Uncle Willy" piffle.)
Dialogue and characterizations are note-perfect, and the story never missteps. This is one of the great ones.Steven D. Greydanus, Decent Films
Holiday (1938)
George Cukor directs this delightful sophisticated romantic comedy about a self-made man who falls in love with a society heiress and at the last minute realizes that he loves her more down-to-earth sister. It's based on the play by Philip Barry, who also wrote the play The Philadelphia Story which had the same director and stars; the animated script is written by Sidney Buchman and Donald Ogden Stewart. The latter starred in the Broadway play in the part played in the film by an effervescent Cary Grant (he even does cartwheels). This is one of Grant's best performances and one of the best film's Cukor directed.HQ Cover and Disc Scan is here.
Holiday (1938)
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After meeting at a ski lodge Johnny Case (Cary Grant) is invited to snobbish wealthy socialite Julia Seton's Park Avenue mansion during the holiday season, where he meets her tipsy brother Ned (Lew Ayres), someone who is depressed because his father wouldn't let him be a musician, and flamboyant younger liberal-minded sister Linda (Katharine Hepburn). The reactionary Julia's plan is to announce their engagement at a New Year's Eve party and marry by the tenth of January. The stodgy Mr. Seton (Henry Kolker), a banking tycoon, interviews the lad and is not impressed with his self-made journey of coming up the hard way from working-class parents, who both died when he was young, and how he worked his way through Harvard doing odd jobs until his present position as a financial wizard at a stock brokerage house. Though he is impressed by the favorable report he receives from his present boss and reluctantly agrees to the marriage plans when Julia insists. But at the engagement reception Case turns down her father's offer of a banking position and the carefree suitor says he plans to retire at 30 and pursue only things that interest him.
Holiday (1938)
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The film, though lighthearted and weighing in heavily in favor of love as a reason for marriage rather than money matters, is more serious about telling of the drawbacks the privileged might have in fulfilling their dreams because they are not allowed to pursue them as they are pressured to maintain their place in society. Interestingly enough the sensitized brother and sister talk about lost hopes in the play room, where they both spent a happy childhood.
Holiday (1938)
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When Julia shows her stripes as a beautiful but dull woman, who only wants a cushy life and doesn't see a greater thrill in the world than making money, in steps the loyal Linda who now feels free to pursue the man she's crazy about. Linda's a kindred spirit of Case's, and joins him as he goes on a boat trip with his wryly comical professor friend Nick Potter (Edward Everett Horton) and his sweet wife (Jean Dixon).
Holiday (1938)
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This elegant film, played with a great sense for comedy and pathos, is in the same high class as The Philadelphia Story but has never received the same attention.Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
Holiday (1938)
Extras: Cary at Columbia Featurette
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