Main Cast: John Alexander, Mickey Rooney, Gloria de Haven, Ruth Brady, Walter Huston, Virginia Brissac, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead
Release Year: 1948
Country: US
Run Time: 92 minutes
Plot
Summer Holiday is a musical remake of the 1935 MGM comedy-drama Ah, Wilderness!, which in turn was adapted from the play by Eugene O'Neill. Mickey Rooney (who played a supporting role in the 1935 film) stars as O'Neill's alter ego Richard Miller, a young man coming of age in early 20th century New England. Anxious to live life to the fullest, Richard ignores the cautionary admonitions of his father Nat (Walter Huston), preferring instead to follow the example of Uncle Sid (Frank Morgan), the family's "black sheep". In his ongoing quest for wine, women and song (he gets precious little of the first two commodities, but plenty of the third!) Richard ignores the fact that the true love of his life, sweet young Muriel (Gloria De Haven), has been under his nose all along. Director Rouben Mamoulien's obsession with cinematic innovations is largely absent here; what emerges is a staid, conventional MGM musical, albeit gorgeously photographed in Technicolor by Charles Schoenbaum. Filmed in 1946 but not released until 1948, Summer Holiday would not be the last musicalized version of Ah, Wilderness!; that honor went to the 1959 Broadway musical Take Me Along, which starred Jackie Gleason as Uncle Sid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
There's a feeling of schizophrenia in Summer Holiday, the musical adaptation of Ah, Wilderness! As he did in Love Me Tonight, director Rouben Mamoulian is trying to make an integrated musical; more importantly, he's trying to make one that is as subtly observant as the Eugene O'Neill play. Unfortunately, lyricist Ralph Blane is not the gifted collaborator that Lorenz Hart was on Love Me Tonight, and while the team of screenwriters are good, they're not O'Neill. Thus, Mamoulian tugs in one direction while his wordsmiths tug in another, with the result that neither satisfies totally. They're not helped by Harry Warren's uncharacteristically ho-hum score; while some of the tunes are nice, none of them have that little extra something that the project requires. The movie does have a number of things going for it, however, including a solid opener that expertly blends song and dialogue; the opening also is visually interesting, a panorama of greys, beiges and whites that suggest a Currier and Ives print. The barroom sequence between Mickey Rooney and Marilyn Maxwell,, in which both Maxwell and the bar subtly are transformed by the effects of liquor, is also a standout. Rooney gives a fairly understated performance, keeping most of his manic mannerisms under control, and Frank Morgan and Walter Huston make strong contributions. Mamoulian would have more luck with his next screen musical, the less ambitious but better realized Silk Stockings. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
