George Redding
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.
weezeralfalfa
The MGM musical is said to have peaked in the early '50s. but my favorite show biz-themed musicals were released in '41 and '42, with Fox's "Sun Valley Serenade" and Paramount's "Holiday Inn", respectively. They both feature snow and riding in sleighs, which adds to their charm. There's lots of humor in both, especially this one. Unfortunately, both were shot in B&W by their miserly studios. It's particularly galling that Paramount filmed the forgotten "Dixie", reuniting stars Bing Crosby and Marjorie Reynolds, in color, but chose B&W for an obvious classic film! Now that the present film has been released in a colorized version, it can more legitimately be compared with later color films, such as "Singing in the Rain". It's far more interesting than the second pairing of Crosby and Astaire, a few years later, in "Blue Skies". In addition to a better selection of songs and sets, and a much better comedic interaction between the male stars, their female costars in Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale were much more appealing than Joan Caulfield, in the latter film. Marjorie is my favorite dance partner for Fred, if not the most technically proficient.Berlin was infamous for recycling his better songs in subsequent films. For this film, only 3 songs were previously composed, and probably only one of those: "Easter Parade", had been sung in a film(Fox's "Alexander's Ragtime Band"), and would serve as the title song in a third film, 6 years later. Bing's rendition, while driving Marjorie in a horse and buggy,with beautiful fruit tree blossoms in the background, is my favorite of these 3. "Lazy", which Bing sings when he is contemplating an easy life, 'retiring' to run a farm, would later be redone by Marilyn Monroe, in a very different(sexy) style! Even the seemingly specialized, though good, song "Abraham" was recycled in "White Christmas", along with the title song.In addition to "White Christmas", "Happy Holidays" is still a standard of the winter holiday season. The former is featured twice: once not far into the film, and again, just prior to the finale. Both renditions are essentially private affairs between Bing's and Marjorie's characters, who alternate in its singing. The first occurs in a very romantic setting of an isolated farm house, with a cozy fire, and it's snowing. The second involves Marge singing it on a Hollywood set, with a surprise appearance of an unseen Bing chiming in, come to reclaim her as his runaway girlfriend(She was furious because he first hid her from Fred, who wanted her for a dance partner, then from a Hollywood agent who wanted her and Fred for Hollywood stardom).The long "Abraham" performance was done in blackface by Bing and Marjorie, along with the orchestra, dancers and waiters, with Lincoln's freeing of the slaves as the theme. Noted African American actress Louise Beavers, as Bing's maid, and her two children, sing a small part. Bing's understood plot reason for doing this in blackface was to make Marjorie unrecognizable to the snooping Fred and his business partner, Danny, who are hooked on her as Fred's potential new dance partner. They don't know her name or where to find her, since Fred was very drunk when he danced with her at Danny's Christmas party, having just lost his former girlfriend and dance partner, played by the lovely Virginia Dale, to a Texas millionaire. Ironically, Ms. Dale left Fred because of a mere jealousy spat over an unseen Marjorie, whom he hadn't even yet met and was connected with by a misunderstanding(Yes, "The lady must have been willing", as Fred would later quip when Margie suddenly abandoned Fred for Bing, at the end).Fred's unique 'firecracker dance' for the July 4 show reportedly needed 38 takes to get the synchrony between the explosions and his dancing just right!. Marjorie isn't in this show, due to Bing's dastardly trick to keep her away from Hollywood scouts. She and Fred, nonetheless, become a Hollywood sensation. Thus, Bing spends Thanksgiving alone(except for his maid), his inn closed, just playing his record "I've Got Plenty to be Thankful For", with sarcastic remarks. Thanks to a sound scolding by Ms. Beavers, he goes to Hollywood to try to win back Marjorie. It didn't take much, as I previously detailed. Yes, the women were fickle.Among the many musical highlights, I should mention the "I'll Capture your Heart Singing/Dancing", "You're Easy to Dance With" and finale-modified reprisal of these, with the 4 stars reunited. Bing and Marjorie's alternating singing of "Come to Holiday Inn", with Marjorie in a sparkling gold evening gown, is great. But, perhaps my favorite is Fred and Marjorie dancing to "Be Careful, It's My Heart", while Bing sings it at the piano, unaware of Fred's presence, briefly reprised in their Hollywood montage.....I give it 20 stars.