Year of Release: 1938Country of Origin: USA
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Doris Nolan, Lew Ayres, Edward Everett Horton
Plot outline: A man who has risen from humble beginnings only to be torn between his free-thinking lifestyle and the tradition of his wealthy fiancée's family (IMDb).
A remake of the 1930 movie of the same name, Holiday has the added advantage of supercharged star power. Katharine Hepburn and Doris Nolan play Linda and Julia Seton, two daughters of a very well-to-do family. The script is careful to bring the pre-Depression frivolities of the Philip Barry play up-to-date, first by changing the character of Grant's best friend (played in both movies by Edward Everett Horton) from a lazy socialite to a dedicated professor, and by including several lines indicating how out of touch the privileged classes are - and choose to remain with 1930s realities. The only element in which the remake does not improve on the original is in the casting of Hepburn's alcoholic younger brother; charming though Lew Ayres is in the 1938 version, he is still outclassed by Monroe Owsley in the original version. Katharine Hepburn managed to temporarily defray her "box office poison" onus when Holiday proved to be a success; alas, her next movie, Bringing Up Baby (which reteamed her with Grant), was a financial bust, compelling her to return to Broadway - where she made a spectacular comeback in another Philip Barry play, The Philadelphia Story. (HE)
My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars
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