George Cukor’s Holiday (1938)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B-
When you
ask about Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in 1938, Howard Hawks’ classic
Screwball Comedy Bringing Up Baby is
the film most celebrated, but they also worked with the equally legendary
George Cukor in his adaptation of the Philip Barry play Holiday. Grant plays a
successful financier who is about to get married to beautiful Julia (Doris
Nolan) even after meeting her stuffy, rich family. However, the family would like to change
Johnny, but that does not seem likely in a way that is guaranteed to cause
friction.
Enter
Julia’s younger sister Linda (Hepburn) who wonders why someone as able-bodied
and independent as Johnny would put up with her dysfunctional family, loaded
with as much money as they are their own egos.
After meeting the family, Johnny starts to have second thoughts, though
he still very much loves Julia. When he
meets Linda, a new wrinkle has been added to events and things are about to get
a little wackier.
The great
project of Screwball Comedy is subversion, especially when it comes to gender,
intelligence and wealth. While Bringing Up Baby covered all of that
and much more, Holiday (especially
coming from Cukor) is most concerned about romance and how money can get in the
way. This is by no means a mere romantic
comedy and the Donald Ogden Stewart/Sidney Buchman screenplay adaptation is
witty if a bit standard in spots.
However, the leads shine and show the same wacky chemistry and energy
they did in Hawks’ classic, which is more than reason enough to see this
film. It is a must-see for any serious
film fan.
The 1.33
X 1 black and white image looks good from a new high definition transfer from
original vault materials. The
cinematography by Franz Planer is top-rate, coming from a long line of German
film production, he escaped the Nazi’s takeover of everything and jumped into
Hollywood with some impressive work, including this early entry. He moved on to an installment of Boston
Blackie and more at Columbia, then moving onto Max Ophuls’ Letter From An Unknown Woman (1948), Roman Holiday (1953), Disney’s 20,000
Leagues Under The Sea, Breakfast At
Tiffany’s, the 70mm production King
Of Kings and his (and Marilyn Monroe’s) unfinished last film: Something Got To Give. He could handle color as well as he could
black and white, with this being a highlight of his fine work.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono is good for its age too, with dialogue and music sounding good
for its age. Extras include three trailers
for other Sony DVD films, stills of deleted scenes and a nice (if too brief)
featurette Cary At Columbia. A
commentary might have been a good idea, but this is better than just a basic
DVD with nothing.
- Nicholas Sheffo
