Themes: Class Differences, Otherwise Engaged, Wedding Bells
Main Cast: Ann Harding, Robert Ames, Mary Astor, Edward Everett Horton, Hedda Hopper
Release Year: 1930
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
The first of the filmizations of Philip Barry's play, Holiday centers around a society wedding. Julia Seton (Mary Astor) intends to marry John Case (Robert Ames), a young Wall Street lion with "radical" ideas that go against the grain of Julia's conservative family. Julia's freewheeling younger sister Linda (Ann Harding), thrilled at the prospect of the unorthodox Case shaking up her household, finds herself drawn to the young man herself. When John shows signs of toning down his recklessness and becoming just another stuffy old financier, Linda is crushed, but eventually the two free spirits are united. Edward Everett Horton, who plays an "idle rich" family friend in Holiday, recreated the role (albeit as a more responsible character) in the 1938 remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Ann Harding and Robert Ames starred in the first screen adaptation of Philip Barry's play -- remade eight years later in a much more famous version with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, directed by George Cukor. This version is a little closer to the source, in terms of the nature of some of the characters, and has a charm all of its own, especially in the Oscar-nominated performance by Harding, an actress who deserves to be better remembered than she is. The supporting characters, especially Edward Everett Horton (who was also in the remake) as Nick Potter, are a little less "housebroken" than they were in the 1938 version, and the result is some edges and sparks that didn't show up in the Cukor version, for all of its virtues. On the down side, the movie was done in 1930, early in the sound era, and at times displays the somewhat static visual nature of most talkies from that period; and complicating matters, in terms of appreciating it today, is the fact that it hasn't been handed down to us in the best condition. Holiday reportedly only exists in the twenty-first century as an archival print at the Library of Congress, and if a showing in New York during the 1990's is any indication of what survives -- a dark, grainy print with somewhat shaky sound -- then this version of Holiday may only be appreciated by modern viewers in a historical context. But that's no fault of the people who made it, and if you can cut through a far less than perfect preservation, and the seams that show in most early talkies, the virtues are there for the viewer. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Carroll Clark - Art Director, Gwen Wakeling - Costume Designer, Edward H. Griffith - Director, Dan Mandell - Editor, Josiah Zuro - Composer (Music Score), Norbert F. Brodin - Cinematographer, E.B. Derr - Producer, Horace Jackson - Screenwriter, Philip Barry - Play Author
Much-missed indie-pop combo Holiday formed on the campus of Yale University in late 1992; originally comprising singer/guitarist Josh Gennet, guitarist Matt Snow, bassist Andrew Park and an Alesis drum machine, the group -- initially dubbed Wimp Rocket -- self-released their 1993 debut cassette The Big Pickle before adding drummer Paul Moyano and travelling to Chicago to record their official debut EP, the Dave Trumfio-produced My Roommate Joe. Drummer Calvin Chin replaced Moyano for the follow-up single, "Permission Slip," and after issuing "Prostitutes in Town" in the fall of 1994, Holiday signed with March Records to issue their self-titled debut album in February. The record's airy, shimmering sound made it a major favorite of underground pop aficionados, and its fine follow-up, 1996's Ready, Steady, Go!, was also a cult hit. Drummer J. Niimi replaced Chin for 1997's Cafe Reggio; by the time of its release, however, Holiday was already a thing of the past -- the group disbanded following their appearance at the New York Popfest that January. Gennet went on to record as the Singletons. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
