"Holiday Inn" *** (out of ****)
"Holiday Inn" is not really a Christmas musical, though it does revolve around the holidays and is sometimes shown at Christmas time.
The movie stars Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby as a song and dance team along with Virginia Dale. Crosby plays Jim Hardy who is about to marry Lila Dixon (Dale). Jim wants to give up show business and settle down on a farm. On the last day of their act Jim learns Lila doesn't want to settle down. In fact she doesn't want to marry Jim. She says she has fallen in love with Ted Hanover (Astaire). They will continue to dance. Though upset, Jim doesn't put up a fight and decides to retire from show business anyway.
Life on the farm is not exactly what Jim thought it would be. Jim wanted to retire because he sought rest and relaxation. He wanted to rest on holidays, which he calls "days of rest". But work on the farm is more than Jim was expecting. So he gets a great idea. Turn his farm into an inn that is only open on holidays.
If you attempt to use logic this plan seems to defeat Jim's sole purpose for wanting to retire. If Jim wanted some r & r and wanted to rest on holidays, doesn't running an inn which is only open on holidays mean he has to work on holidays and thus is not able to relax? But, hey, this is a movie and we are not suppose to think. Just accept the plot where ever it may lead us.
While looking for some new talent to headline at the inn Jim meets Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds), a singer and dancer, who has been working in a flower shop waiting for her big break. She and Jim immediately start an attraction and she is hired on the spot. Meanwhile Ted and Lila have broken up when on their wedding day Lila runs off with a Texas millionaire! Ted seeks support from his old friend, Jim, where he meets Linda and suspects she may be the new partner he needs. Problem is Jim loves Linda and doesn't want to lose another girl to Ted.
The big problems with "Holiday Inn" is the storyline becomes repetitive. One guy falls in love, then the girl runs off. Jim and Ted are constantly trying to back stab each other while allowing a girl to come between them. In some ways it resembles the "road pictures" Crosby made with Bob Hope. Only Fred Astaire, despite being a great dancer, is not as funny as Bob Hope.
Crosby doesn't seem to be doing much acting either. He seems to be walking through the movie, thinking his so-call natural appeal will guide him through the movie. He's Bing Crosby, all he need do is sing the songs correctly and everything else will take care of itself. Sadly, it doesn't quite work out that way. I never really thought Crosby was a great actor. Even in the "road pictures" Crosby doesn't seem to be doing much acting. The whole appeal of those movies was the audience got to watch two friends pale around. Stories are legendary about how the two would ad-lib on set and compete with each other over who got the funnier lines. If you really want to see Crosby give an actual performance watch him play a has-been drunk in "The Country Girl" with Grace Kelly and William Holden.
Another problem with the movie is a few of the songs, which were written by Irving Berlin, are not among his best. A couple are standard songs are heard however. The Valentine's Day song "Becareful, It's My Heart" is heard, Fred Astaire sings "You're Easy To Dance With", Crobsy sings "Easter Parade", "Happy Holiday" and perhaps the most famous Christmas song of all time is introduced in this movie, "White Christmas". Many people are under the impression "White Christmas" was written for a movie of the same title in 1954, which also starred Crosby with Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney. But it wasn't. "Holiday Inn" was released in 1942 and the song won the Oscar that year for "best song".
I said "Holiday Inn" is not really a Christmas movie, and its isn't. What "Holiday Inn" becomes is a musical which celebrates America. Since all of the songs heard here are dedicated to an American holiday the songs are all celebrations of the American way of life. One of the film's big production numbers is a 4th of July number, which even includes photos of FDR. This is fitting since the movie was made during the war. Most American films made during this period did have a strong sense of patriotism. Director, Mark Sandrich's next film would be a WW2 movie, "So Proudly We Hail" with Claudette Colbert. What is also fitting about this is Irving Berlin was once called, by Jerome Kern, another great American composer, "America's songwriter". So it is only appropriate that the man who wrote "God Bless America" would make a musical dedicated to America.
Sandrich is not a great director. He did direct one of my favorite movies of all time though, "Top Hat" with Astaire and Ginger Roger. In fact he directed five films with the team including "Shall We Dance" and "Follow the Fleet". But I think of him as nothing really more than a studio director. I'm not sure how much creative control he had while making these movies.
Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale don't make very good partners for Astaire either. Reynolds was in Fritz Lang's "Ministry of Fear" and "Monsieur Beaucaire" with Bob Hope. I haven't seen her in anything else. Neither movie allowed her to sing and dance, and while she does have talent there is just too much pressure for her to live up to some of Astaire other dancing partners namely Rogers and Eleanor Powell, heck even Vera Ellen!
"Holiday Inn" is harmless and mindless fun. The plot is very weak and the acting is not top notch. The real reason to watch this is for the Irving Berlin songs. The viewer just sits and waits for each new song to be sung. And while some are very weak, listen to a song about George Washington's birthday and one on Abraham Lincoln's birthday, which surprisingly is sung in blackface. Still for songs like "White Christmas" and a very good solo dance number by Astaire the movie becomes watchable. It is a decent movie to watch during the holidays.
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