Well it’s nearly Christmas, so it must be time for some festive films. Holiday Inn is a Yuletide classic, and no wonder – it’s got everything you want…romance, comedy, great singing and breathtaking dancing. Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire play Jim and Ted, a pair of entertainers. Jim wants to get out of the business and go away with his future wife, to run a farm. However when his fiancee Lila, who also dances with the men in their stage cat, runs away with Ted, Jim ends up buying a hotel that only opens on public holidays. When an aspiring singer and dancer named Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds) gets a job at the inn, Jim starts to fall for her. But then Ted visits and sees Linda, and thinks she would be perfect as his new dance partner…
This film is the one where Bing Crosby first sang White Christmas (in 1954, he made the film ‘White Christmas’ with Danny Kaye – Astaire was unavailable – and reprised the song). Bing gets to show off his wonderful voice with some great songs, and not to be outdone, Fred does some incredible dancing. The clip I have posted, where he dances with firecrackers, was my personal favourite. Marjorie Reynolds is great as Linda Mason, bringing humour and sweetness to her role, and the two main stars bounce off each other perfectly.
There was one scene which took me by surprise and made me wince – to entertain his guests at the Inn on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Jim and Linda dress up in what they call ‘blackface’ make-up, to sing about Lincoln ending slavery. This film is almost 70 years old and such scenes would be widely accepted when it was made, but it is jarring to see it on film nowadays (even in an old movie).
That scene aside however, this film is a classic for obvious reasons. It’s a feel-good film, one to make you feel festive and make you smile. The dancing is dazzling, and the soundtrack, courtesy of Irving Berlin, is great (Berlin always wrote fantastic music). Perfect holiday viewing!
Year of release: 1942
Director: Mark Sandrich
Writers: Irving Berlin, Elmer Rice, Claude Binyon, Ben Holmes, Bert Lawrence, Zion Myers, Francis Swann
Main cast: Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale, Louise Beavers
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