Film Review
A few timeless Irving Berlin numbers and the improbable but
surprisingly effective pairing of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire is all
it takes to gloss over the most ramshackle of plots and elevate
Holiday
Inn to the level of a minor Hollywood classic, a status it only just
merits. In common with many glitzy Hollywood musicals of this
era, it is a pretty superficial affair with a nonsensical plot that has
all too obviously been cobbled together around the musical numbers -
not that this matters greatly. Crosby's vocal talents and
Astaire's nifty footwork offer enough to keep any audience entertained,
and a few dollops of screwball-style comedy along the way don't go amiss.
Holiday Inn was directed by
Mark Sandrich with much the same flair that he brought to his previous
musicals that featured Fred Astaire tripping the light fantastic with
Ginger Rogers, notably
The Gay Divorcee (1934) and
Top
Hat (1935). Rogers's presence is missed here,
but Marjorie Reynolds proves to be a fair substitute, excelling in her
show-stopping dance routines with old Twinkle Toes. Crosby is
overshadowed by Astaire for most of the film but comes into his own
when he breaks into song, particularly in the film's best known number,
the Oscar winning
White Christmas,
which became a chart-topping hit immediately after the film's
release. Other memorable Irving Berlin numbers offered include
Be Careful, It's My Heart and
Easter Parade.
Today, the Abraham Lincoln musical sequence, in which Crosby and
Reynolds perform as blacked-up minstrels, is deemed to be politically
incorrect and is often cut when the film is aired on television - which
is a shame as the sequence was originally intended as a sincere
celebration of President Lincoln's contribution to black emancipation.
The film was in production when the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbour occurred and the United States made the decision to enter WWII.
The impact of these events is felt in a spectacular montage sequence that serves
as a rousing call to arms, without appearing overly jingoistic.
The film's popularity on its initial release is presumably what led to it
being remade (virtually) as
White Christmas twelve years
later. Astaire declined to appear in this latter film and so
Crosby was united, arguably more successfully, with Danny Kaye.
Whilst
White Christmas is a
more prestige production, offering more in the way of gloss and tinsel
(it was famously the first film to be shot in VistaVision), it lacks
something of the emotional heart of
Holiday
Inn, although both films can be relied upon to
lift your spirits when the holiday blues kick in.
© James Travers 2010
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Jim Hardy and Ted Hanover are a star New York song and dance act, but
their partnership is about to end when Jim makes up his mind to drop
out of the entertainment business so that he can run a farm in
Connecticut. Jim is aggrieved when the third member of their
team, Lila Dixon, decides not to marry him and opts instead to continue
her career with Ted. Farming proves to be a harder occupation
than Jim had bargained for, so he decides to convert his house into a
dinner-dance club, Holiday Inn, that will only open on public
holidays. With the support of would-be dancer Linda Mason, Jim
manages to make a success of his new business venture. One day,
Ted turns up at Holiday Inn, in an intoxicated state after being
abandoned by Lila. Before he knows what is happening, Ted is on
the dance floor, dancing with Linda. When Ted's manager Danny
Reed sees Ted and Linda together, he sees that fate has thrown Ted a
new dancing partner. But how will Jim react when Ted tries to
steal another girl from him...?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.