Holiday
(1938)
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Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant team up in this classic George Cukor comedy about love that finally finds its mark. Johnny (Grant) has just met the girl of his dreams, so he proposes; she happily accepts. However, he soon discovers that his lovely bride-to-be, Julia (Doris Nolan), comes from a wealthy Park Avenue family, with a father who likes to make all the decisions and to whom she seems incapable of defying. Her unconventional sister, Linda (Hepburn), knows she wants something different from a mapped-out life; she also discovers she's falling in love with Johnny. Grant's effervescent performance is timeless, and his onscreen chemistry with Hepburn electric. Based on the 1928 play by Philip Barry, and the second time the story was adapted to the screen, this version established the rules for intelligent romantic comedies and provided a template from which the deft Cukor could further expand. |
This absolutely magical entertainment — an expert brew of comedy, pathos, romance and social comment — comes courtesy of the team that, two years later, would reunite to make The Philadelphia Story: screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart, working from a play by Philip Barry; director George Cukor; and Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, he at his most thoughtful and charming, she never more beautiful or touching. Previously filmed in 1930, it's the tale of a man (Grant) who falls in love with a girl (Doris Nolan). When she turns out to be from the top drawer of mega-wealthy New York society, he finds himself enmeshed in more than he bargained for — especially after her sister (Hepburn) takes a shine to him. The stars sparkle in the midst of a superb supporting cast that notably includes Edward Everett Horton and Lew Ayres. Definitely a film out of the “they don't make them like that any more” stable.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Elegant, highly successful remake; still a stage play on film, but subtly devised to make the very most of the lines and performances. Horton played the same role in both versions.