Film Snail

Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn

7.0

Holiday Inn

NR·1942·101m

Summary

Lovely Linda Mason has crooner Jim Hardy head over heels, but suave stepper Ted Hanover wants her for his new dance partner after fickle Lila Dixon gives him the brush. Jim's supper club, Holiday Inn, is the setting for the chase by Hanover and his manager.

Crew

Director

Mark Sandrich

Adaptation

Elmer Rice

Idea, Lyricist

Irving Berlin

Screenplay

Claude Binyon

Reviews

John Chard

John Chard

November 7, 2019

5

Safe and amiable enough... Jim Hardy retires from show business to become a farmer in New England. Once set up he finds that it's a life that is somewhat more demanding than he had first thought. Hitting on an idea that should make his life more fulfilling, he turns the farm into an Inn that only opens on public holidays. But things get complicated when Jim's old partner, Ted, turns up and sets his sights on Linda, Jim's gorgeous "friend", this holiday period may not be so happy after all.

Boasting great star power in the form of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, Holiday Inn still feels short of the required genre excitement. There is no doubting the benefit here of having both the leading men's respective abilities on show, where Bing croons with the best of them and Fred of course dances with majestic grace. We get a firecracker sequence that's particularly memorable, but sadly the women of the piece are forgettable, while outside of the songs and dances the film drifts into almost sleepy auto pilot.

All those involved have done far better, that's for sure, but at least here we get to hear the first airing of the Academy Award winning song, White Christmas. The film is a favourite of many, certainly it is, yet it's just a very average picture and not one that under revisit scrutiny survives away from nostalgic glows. 5/10

Media

Status:

Released

Original Language:

English

Budget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$3,750,000.00

Keywords

new year's eve
dancing
holiday
show business
musical
connecticut
singing
inn
song and dance
blackface
dance team
christmas
romantic rival
white christmas