Death Takes a Holiday

• Director: Robert Butler
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Fantasy
• Movie Type: Romantic Fantasy
• Themes: Mysterious Strangers, Opposites Attract, Supernatural Romance
• Release Year: 1971
• Country: US
• Run Time: 90 minutes

Plot

This 1971 TV movie remake of the 1934 film of the same name (see the above synopsis) adds little to the original story about Death assuming human form to discover why mankind fears him. In updating the story, the scenarists removed much of the "nobility" of the principal characters--and also a lot of their charm. Melvyn Douglas and Myrna Loy are superb in roles played in 1934 by Sir Guy Standing and Helen Westley, while Monte Markham is okay but nothing more in the old Fredric March role as "Death". Yvette Mimieux is utterly forgettable as the enigmatic Grazia; her wisecracking American friend (originally Gail Patrick) is played by Maureen Reagan, a few years before the daughter of Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman (rather wisely) abandoned acting. Whatever appeal Death Takes a Holiday had in 1934 utterly withers and expires in this halfhearted remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

Colby Chester - Tony Chapman; Regis J. Cordic - TV Announcer; Melvyn Douglas - Judge Earl Chapman; Myrna Loy - Selena Chapman; Mario Machado - TV Announcer; Kerwin Mathews - Sen. Earl Chapman Jr.; Yvette Mimieux - Peggy Chapman; Priscilla Pointer - Marion Chapman; Maureen Reagan - Ellen Chapman; Austin Willis - Martin Herndon; Bert Convy - John Cummings; Monte Markham - David Smith

Credit

Eugène Lourié - Art Director, Robert Butler - Director, Michael Economou - Editor, Laurindo Almeida - Composer (Music Score), Michael D. Margulies - Cinematographer, George Eckstein - Producer, Walter Ferris - Screenwriter, Rita Larkin - Screenwriter, Alberto Casella - Play Author

Similar Movies

Black Orpheus; Holiday; Les Visiteurs Du Soir; On Borrowed Time; Orpheus; The Seventh Seal; Destiny; One Hell of a Guy