Holiday Inn (1942)

I had already seen White Christmas, the partial remake of this original, named after the most famous song from its leading star, it was only right I should see the film the song came from, directed by Mark Sandrich (The Gay Divorce, Top Hat, Shall We Dance). Basically in New York City, Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby), Ted Hanover (Fred Astaire), and Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale) have a popular musical act, Jim prepares to give his last performance on Christmas Eve, before marrying Lily and retiring on a farm in Connecticut. But at the last minute, Lily decides she wants to continue performing, and she has fallen for Ted, she tells Jim she will stay on as Ted's dance partner, Jim is heartbroken but goes through with his plan. A year later, on Christmas Eve, Jim returns to New York, farm life has difficult, he plans to turn it into an entertainment venue, Holiday Inn, only opening on public holidays, Ted and his agent Danny Reed (Walter Abel) mock him, but wish him luck. At the airport flower shop, Danny is recognised by employee Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds) as a talent agent, she approaches him and begs him to get into show business, he suggests she go to Holiday Inn. After an evening encounter with Jim, where they both pretended to be different people, Linda arrives at Holiday Inn on the morning of Christmas Day, they realise they were both fooling each other, they take to each other immediately, Jim sings Linda his new song, "White Christmas". Holiday Inn opens to a packed house on New Year's Eve, Ted arrives drunk after Lila has left him for a Texas millionaire, he wanders aimlessly on the dance floor, he has a dance with Linda which brings down the house. The next morning, Ted remembers very little about the night before or about Linda, Jim says nothing about her and tries to hide her, afraid Ted will try to steal her from the inn. On Lincoln's Birthday (Feb 12), Ted and Danny return to Holiday Inn hoping to find Linda, Jim has all the performers, including Linda, disguised as minstrels to foil their search. Jim later asks Linda to stay between holidays, Linda assumes this is a proposal, Ted and Danny did not find Linda, but they plan to return to the inn on the next public holiday. During rehearsals for Valentine's Day, Jim presents Linda with a new song as a Valentine gift, as Jim is singing with his back turned, Ted enters and spots Linda, he has a romantic dance with her. Convinced she is the girl she remembers from New Year's Eve, Ted demands Jim provides a number for them to perform on the next holiday, Jim reluctantly agrees. On Washington's Birthday (Feb 22), Ted and Linda perform in elaborate 18th century period costumes, Jim constantly changes the tempo from minuet to jazz each time the couple attempt to kiss. Later Linda refuses Ted's invitation to be his new dance partner, she says she has promised to stay at the inn, and that she and Jim are getting married, Jim tries to convince Ted that this is true, but Ted is unconvinced, he tells Danny he will continue to pursue Linda. At Easter, romance continues to blossom between Jim and Linda, Ted is waiting for them when they return from church, he asks Jim to remain in his shows, Linda is charmed he hopes to find "true happiness" that she and Jim have, but Jim is suspicious. Jim's suspicions are confirmed on Independence Day when he overhears Ted and Danny talking about Hollywood representatives attending that night's show to determine if Ted and Linda can be in motion pictures. Desperate, Jim pays hired hand Gus (Irving Bacon) to do everything he can to stop Linda arriving at the inn, Gus drives the car into the creek attempting to delay her. Linda is picked up by Lila, who left the Texas millionaire, following tax problems, she is pretending to be a waitress, Lila talks about the Hollywood tryout and being Ted's partner, Linda assumes Jim has arranged for her to take Linda's place, so she directs Linda into the same river. Back at the inn, Ted is forced to perform a solo dance, Linda eventually arrives and finds that Ted improvising his solo dance has impressed the studio honchos, Linda accepts an offer to leave for Hollywood, Jim reluctantly agrees that the Hollywood producers can make a film about Holiday Inn. The inn is closed on Thanksgiving, Jim is depressed, he hardly touches his turkey dinner, and he is negative towards working on his recordings, his housekeeper Mamie (Louise Beavers) implores him to travel to California to win Linda back. Jim arrives at the studio on Christmas Eve, just as Ted is preparing to marry Linda, Jim confronts Ted in his dressing room, then locks him in it. Linda films the final scene for her, the set is a recreation of Holiday Inn, the director boasts to Jim that the recreation is most exact ever created for a motion picture. Jim leaves his pipe on the piano on the set, he hides nearby as Linda performs "White Christmas" on the piano, she falters, then Jim's voice joins her singing, Linda runs to Jim as the director yells "Cut!", Ted and Danny finally understand Jim's plan, but are too late to stop him. On Christmas Eve at Holiday's Inn, Ted and Lila have been reunited and are performing together, and Jim and Linda prepare to stay together and run the inn. Also starring Marek Windheim as François, James Bell as Dunbar, John Gallaudet as Parker, Shelby Bacon as Vanderbilt and Joan Arnold as Daphne. Crosby is charming and has a smooth voice, Astaire is likeable and has great rhythm, it is a simple love rivalry as both men fight for the affections of Dale. The film is filled with great song and dance routines crated by Irving Berlin, but of course the stand-out scene is the famous rendition by Crosby of "White Christmas", which is the biggest-selling song in the world, with over 50 million copies, overall the film is a nice enjoyable musical. Very good!

What's not to like about this movie? "Holiday Inn" fits in many film genres -- comedy, musical, romance, drama and Christmas. It's one of the best efforts of Hollywood to make a musical revue with a plot. It succeeds marvelously in that and gives us some of the best song and dance routines of the day. The film is a showcase of Irving Berlin music, dancing by the greatest dancer of the silver screen (Fred Astaire), and singing by the top male singer of the early decades of filmdom (Bing Crosby). Crosby and Astaire together are a sure fire combination for entertainment. Crosby plays Jim Hardy and Astaire plays Ted Hanover. While they dominate the film, a small supporting cast fills in the details, mostly in the plot aspects. Virginia Dale and Marjorie Reynolds are the romance interests of both Jim and Ted, as Lila Dixon and Linda Mason, respectively. They both dance very well with Astaire. Linda has some songs with Jim, but her voice is dubbed by Martha Mears. Walter Abel as Danny Reed, Louise Beavers as Mamie and Irving Bacon as Gus are nice window dressing in the plot mostly with comedy. Astaire has two first time and exceptional dance numbers in this film. The first is the firecracker dance and the second is a soused Ted Hanover who gives a funny but superb drunken dance. Work on the film began before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and with its release to be early in the war, the studio added a patriotic number with some films clips. Of course, Irving Berlin's music holds sway with this great piece of entertainment. The master composer wrote a dozen songs that were used for this film. Some were originals (i.e., "Happy Holiday" and "White Christmas"), and others were reprisals (i.e., "Easter Parade"). Most were recorded separately before being used in the film. If for no other reason, "Holiday Inn" will be remembered as the movie that brought "White Christmas" to a worldwide audience. Crosby sang Berlin's "White Christmas" for its first ever performance on the radio broadcast of the Kraft Music Hall show of Christmas Day, 1941. He subsequently was the first to record the song, on May 29, 1942, for Decca Records. After "Holiday Inn" came out in August 1942, the song got worldwide attention. It was wildly popular among American GIs and others serving during World War II.The history of that single song is interesting. No one at first thought of it as a sure-fire top hit song. Berlin and Crosby liked it, but they and the people at Paramount thought that the hit number of "Holiday Inn" would be, "Be Careful, It's My Heart." According to the Guinness World Records, Bing Crosby's rendition of "White Christmas" is the best-selling single song of all time. It had more than 100 million sold (by 2010). All versions of the song, including Crosby's, have sold more than 150 million copies. Guinness states that there are more than 500 versions of the song recorded in various languages. Besides Bing Crosby, many other top singers have recorded "White Christmas" over time. They include: Frank Sinatra in 1944, Perry Como in 1947, Elvis Presley in 1957, Johnny Mathis in 1958, Andy Williams in 1963, Doris Day in 1964, Barbra Streisand in 1967, Tony Bennett in 1968, John Denver in 1975, Willie Nelson in 1979, Dolly Parton in 1984, Neil Diamond in 1992, Linda Ronstadt in 2000, Bette Midler in 2003, Dionne Warwick in 2004, and Ray Stevens in 2009, "Holiday Inn" is a wonderful movie that the whole family should enjoy.

This 1942 Paramount movie is wonderful for Christmas, though it acknowledges all the main holidays of the year. In this story an accomplished singer (Crosby) opens an inn in Connecticut, not all too far from NYC, which is open only, again, on the main holidays, such as New Year's Day, Lincoln's Birthday, Washington's Birthday, Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and last but not least, Christmas. In the movie, Fred Astaire and Virginia Dale make for a great dancing team, and there is sparkling chemistry between Bing Crosby and the very pretty and adorable Marjorie Reynolds; the latter portrays a young lady anxious to go to Hollywood. To adumbrate a lot, Astaire comes to the inn after his fiancé, (Dale) instead of marrying Astaire goes to meet someone in Texas about whom she hears is rich. Astaire meets the girl anxious to go to Hollywood, and he falls in love with her. (Personally, I can't blame him.) It doesn't matter to Astaire that the young girl had once talked to the singer about marrying her, though nothing is set. The comedy enters when Crosby does anything he can to get her away from the dancer, including a change of rhythm in music during the Washington's Birthday dance sequence. At the same time he tries to get her away from two Hollywood scouts by having his employee Gus drive her into the water. While the story is slightly heart-breaking in one place, it does have a good resolve. Who will end up with whom? I'll give nothing away here. But it is a wonderful, heart-warming story. One of my favorites. And needless to say, the songs by Irving Berlin are drawing, such as "Abraham", "Easter Parade", and, of course, last but not least, "White Christmas", just to mention a few. The songs as well as the story make the movie.movie.

There are some terrific songs in Holiday Inn, and some wonderful dance numbers. So good, in fact, that it's easy to just ignore how terrible the story is.The truth is, Astaire and Crosby play remarkably unsavory characters. While supposedly friends, Astaire thinks nothing of stealing Crosby's fiancé at the beginning of the play, and later tries to take his subsequent girlfriend. Meanwhile Crosby shows his love through a series of tricks and manipulations designed to make sure his girl will never experience any success outside of what he bestows on her.While you can argue, as some do, that the black-face sequences didn't seem nearly as creepy then as now, even Crosby's girl objects to his behavior during the film, and I don't think there was really any time when it was considered okay to steal someone's fiancé.To make it weirder, there is little indication that either of them were more than mildly attached to either girl. Crosby's response to being jilted is a simple "oh well," and he seems to forgive Astaire quite promptly. Astaire seems to go after Crosby's women less because he likes them than because they're there.Really, these are terrible, terrible people. And if there terribleness wasn't commented on at the time, it was not because it was considered acceptable behavior, but because the lead's personal charm and talent and Irving Berlin's classic songs seemed far more important than a typically inconsequential musical plot.