9. Holiday (1938)
Ideals clash in a comedy that pits Cary Grant’s Johnny against his girlfriend Julia’s (Doris Nolan) against her family, who view the world differently.
Johnny arrives at Julia’s home as her family is planning a big New Year’s Eve party. Johnny is planning on marrying Julia and their engagement will be announced at midnight. Johnny is surprised to learn that Julia’s family is extremely wealthy and her father Edward Seton (Henry Kolker) has a nice job at his bank all lined up for Johnny. Johnny however has plans of his own. Johnny wants to see the world and experience it before settling down. Johnny finds a kindred spirit in Julia’s older sister Linda (Katharine Hepburn). Johnny soon realizes that he might be marrying the wrong sister.
A winning comedy from Director George Cukor that deals with a popular subject in the late 1930’s and that’s you don’t need money to be happy. Holiday is a fast moving, funny and at times touching film. Grant and Hepburn are of course magical, picking up their amazing chemistry they displayed in two previous films together and will serve them even better in 1940’s screwball classic The Philadelphia Story.
Holiday is an easy movie to love. Grant is still really early in his movie career as he arrived in Hollywood just six years earlier, but starting with 1937’s Topper, Grant is starting to establish himself as the best comedian in film as he had The Awful Truth (my favorite Grant film) and Bringing Up Baby under his belt. Hepburn is no slouch either. Her timing is impeccable as too is her physical comedy chops, both are on full display in Holiday.
And while Holiday never reaches the heights of Bringing Up Baby or The Philadelphia Story, it is still a must see.
Holiday arrived on blu-ray from the Criterion Collection with a new 4K scan that was handled by Sony Pictures. It is stunning. I watched this film on DVD just a couple years ago and Sony delivers a sparkling new transfer. Blacks are deep and full, and the film has a great amount of beautiful detail that I missed watching it on DVD.
Holiday cheers onto blu-ray with a solid mono track. No hissing or scratching can be found on the soundtrack. This is a healthy sounding track for a film that is 82 years old.
The Criterion Collection delivers yet again with some truly great bonus features.
Holiday (1930)-presented here is the 1930 version of Holiday. It is ok, but how can you compare with Grant and Hepburn, you can’t. Hats off to Criterion however for including it.
A conversation with Filmmaker Michael Schlesinger and Film Critic Michael Sragow: An hour and a half discussion about the two Holiday films and the play. They discuss the differences and how they are alike.
Audio excerpt with George Cukor: Cukor talks about Holiday in 1971 and 72.
Costume Gallery: A look at the film’s costumes
Holiday is a fun, light comedy that is a must buy for fans of Grant, Hepburn or just golden age comedies in general.
Film: A
Video: A
Audio: A-
Extras: A
Overall: A