Holiday Inn (Special Edition)
by Mark Sandrich
(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale, Walter AbelDirector: Mark Sandrich
Brand: CROSBY,BING
Writer: Ben Holmes
Writer: Bert Lawrence
Writer: Claude Binyon
Writer: Elmer Rice
Writer: Francis Swann
Writer: Irving Berlin
Writer: Zion Myers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-10-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of Holiday Inn (Special Edition)
Movie Review: A film for EVERY holiday occasion
Summary: 4 Stars
Like it's pseudo-remake WHITE CHRISTMAS, this keeps growing on me with every viewing. Might help that I hadn't seen it in a few years before last night - and that I've become much more a fan of musicals, and both Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby. Der Bingle is Jim Hardy, part of a dancing team with Ted Hanover (Astaire) and Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale); both men are in love (or think they are) with Lila, and Jim thinks he's going to take her away from dirty, all-work and no-play Broadway to a nice little farm he's got in Connecticut. She balks at the idea, decides to stay with Ted, and Jim goes off to the farm anyway. Soon he finds that farming is just too hard, and concocts the idea of turning his huge lumbering farmhouse into an inn and nightclub - but only open on holidays. He also accidentally stumbles on new female singer Linda (Marjorie Reynolds) to help him out - and become his new amour - just as Ted, predictably, has a falling-out with Lila. Complications ensue...
This is marvellous fun, though one thing that is quite noticeable on multiple viewings is just how obnoxious both Ted and Jim are. Ted's a serious drinker who doesn't know when to stop (which results in a marvelous "drunken" dance sequence with Linda on Lincoln's birthday); he also seems to have no qualms about trying to make off with every woman that Jim's interested in. Jim on the other hand is domineering and possessive to extremes, going so far as to try to sabotage Linda's chance at stardom - which ultimately ends in her leaving him, going off with Ted, and going to Hollywood where the whole "Holiday Inn" concept is re-created for a film, and the inn built on a set - except that the set, of course, is exactly the set that was used in the "real" part of the film. It's so self-reflexive it might be the first post-modern mainstream Hollywood film.
Famous songs include "White Christmas" (original to this film, and the winner for the Best Song Oscar), "You're Easy to Dance With", "Happy Holidays", and "Easter Parade" - but all of the songs (by Irving Berlin, who apparently came up with the idea for the story in the first place) are pretty swell. There's a nice balance between Bing's crooning some of these numbers and Fred's hoofing throughout - which provides another element of self-reflexivity of course as the film seems to grapple with the notion of whether singing or dancing is the more important element in a musical - and never resolves it (how could it?).
One unfortunate element that really can't be ignored here, and that certainly does make the film a little bit problematic, is the treatment of race - from characters appearing in blackface during the Lincoln's Birthday segment to Louise Beavers' typical "Mammy" role as, uhh, "Mamie", and the just-for-laughs naming of her son, "Vanderbilt". I certainly don't think the portrayal of African-Americans here is at all mean-spiritied - but it's also pretty ignorant and insensitive, and viewers who have problems forgiving old Hollywood stereotypes need to be warned that they're in force here.
I think that what I liked about the film the most is that, despite the two star's constant bickering and underhanded behavior, they do get to learn lessons the hard way - but we also don't believe for a minute that they're entirely born-again nice guys at the end, as the last number slyly reminds us. Reynolds as Linda is quite charming and pretty, and reasonably believable as the naive girl just getting started; Dale has less to do but is fine. They're both a little stronger and more self-willed than the women in many musicals of the era - though they both still fall for these jerks in the end. Ah well, that's Hollywood. Mark Sandrich, who directed most of the best of Astaire and Rogers' films of the 30s, puts it all together with class and keeps it moving, and Walter Abel provides fine comic support as frantic manager Danny.
Summary of Holiday Inn (Special Edition)
Two song and dance men leave showbusiness to open a Connecticut inn, but conflict arises when they fall for the same woman.Genre: Musicals
Rating: NR
Release Date: 10-OCT-2006
Media Type: DVD
In 1942, Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby teamed up at Der Bingle's Paramount Pictures for Holiday Inn, a black-and-white musical that proves more entertaining than Crosby's color semi-remake White Christmas in 1954. Astaire and Crosby play partner/rival song-and-dance men who compete for the hand of their performing partner, played by Virginia Dale. After Crosby loses, he moves to the Connecticut countryside where he creates a resort that is only open on holidays and puts on the shows with the help of Marjorie Reynolds. Dumped by Dale, Astaire makes a drunken arrival at the inn on New Year's Eve and dances with Reynolds. He decides she'll be his new partner, but doesn't remember what she looks like, setting off a frenzied search at every subsequent show while the once-bitten Crosby does his best to steer him off track. The theme gives Irving Berlin an excuse to craft or recycle a number of holiday-themed songs, such as (in the former category) "Washington's Birthday" or (in the latter) "Easter Parade." The most famous of the new material, of course, is "White Christmas," which became one of the bestselling songs of all time and the title song of Crosby's 1954 film. Astaire and Crosby also team up for "I'll Capture Her Heart," which playfully contrasts the stars' specialties, and Astaire's "It's So Easy to Dance with You" became one of the signature songs of his post-Ginger Rogers career. Astaire and Crosby teamed up again for Blue Skies in 1946. --David Horiuchi
Comedy DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in Christmas Movies
The Family Stone (Widescreen Edition)Family; Release date: 2006-05-02; DVD
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Dan in Real LifeBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2008-03-11; DVD
Best price: $12.86
Price in other shops:
White Christmas (Anniversary Edition)Par; Release date: 2009-11-03; DVD
Best price: $16.60
Price in other shops:
Home Alone 3LINZ,ALEX; Release date: 1998-11-03; DVD
Price in other shops:
Home Alone 2: Lost in New YorkTCFHE; Release date: 1999-10-05; DVD
Price in other shops:
Home AloneTCFHE; Release date: 1999-10-05; DVD
Price in other shops:
The Nightmare Before Christmas (2-Disc Collector's Edition + Digital Copy)Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2008-08-26; DVD
Price in other shops:
Love Actually (Widescreen Edition)UNI DIST CORP. (MCA); Release date: 2004-04-27; DVD
Price in other shops:
The Santa Clause: 3 Movie CollectionBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2008-10-07; DVD
Best price: $29.31
Price in other shops:
Santa Clause 2 (Full Screen Edition)Disney; Release date: 2003-11-18; DVD
Best price: $9.91
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Holiday (Christmas in Connecticut 1945 / A Christmas Carol 1938 / The Shop Around the Corner / It Happened on 5th Avenue)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2009-11-03; DVD
Best price: $15.99
Price in other shops:
It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2006-10-31; DVD
Best price: $11.38
Price in other shops:
Going My Way (Universal Cinema Classics)Unknown; Release date: 2007-02-06; DVD
Best price: $4.43
Price in other shops:
The Bells of St. Mary'sIVE; Release date: 2003-09-23; DVD
Best price: $7.81
Price in other shops:
Classic Christmas Collection (It's a Wonderful Life / White Christmas)Unknown; Release date: 2006-10-31; DVD
Best price: $22.98
Price in other shops:
The Bishop's WifeGRANT,CARY; Release date: 2001-03-06; DVD
Best price: $7.07
Price in other shops:
Miracle on 34th Street (Special Edition)NOX; Release date: 2006-11-21; DVD
Best price: $7.23
Price in other shops:
Christmas in ConnecticutWarner Brothers; Release date: 2005-11-08; DVD
Best price: $5.39
Price in other shops:
White ChristmasPARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2007-10-16; DVD
Best price: $24.97
White Christmas (Anniversary Edition)Par; Release date: 2009-11-03; DVD
Best price: $16.58
Price in other shops: