I have watched Holiday Inn a couple of times. After the first viewing it was difficult to get through it due to the gagging and wanting to throw up. I see reviews knocking White Christmas (1954) as a bad copycat of Holiday Inn. Well, if White Christmas is a copycat, it shines so far above Holiday Inn that it is a CopyTiger, CopyLion, CopyLeopard. It is my opinion that while Fred Astaire can sing, he can not act his way into or out of a mud puddle. The chemistry between Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas is beyond the Best. I find absolutely no chemistry in Holiday Inn. I watch White Christmas several times every year as the movie brings me great Joy~!~!~!~!~!~! Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen are fabulous icing on the cake in White Christmas. They enhance the chemistry between all of the characters magnificently. I have thought about writing this review for several years.

Of course that was after they made a stage version of its remake, "White Christmas", well a partial remake of it. For reasons beyond my understanding, "White Christmas" is more well known and a holiday perennial, even though this film introduced the Oscar winning song by Bing Crosby and has a much better plot. I find "White Christmas" too gimmicky and dated, even in 1950's terms, and highly overrated. The plot line surrounding a country inn open only at the holidays was keeping in touch with the patriotic morale at the time, and in updating the remake with post war ideals it seemed pretentious and colorless in spite of all that garish Technicolor.The Broadway version took out certain elements that cleared up any "politically incorrect" issues, mostly by getting rid of the black housekeeper, Louise Beavers, singing about "happy darkies" in the production number about Abraham Lincoln and turned her into a feisty (white) female "Miss Fix-It". The basic story remained but turned Fred Astaire's character into an even more smooth womanizing playboy while making Crosby's character more of a homebody with the desire of show business still in his heart. The stage version was recently broadcast on PBS so comparisons are inevitable. Having seen the stage version in the front row, I found myself grinning broadly, and in revisiting the film for the first time in many years, realized that I was doing exactly the same thing with the film.The singing and dancing team of Astaire and Crosby (along with Marjorie Reynolds) are happy until Reynolds chooses Astaire over Crosby, leaving Crosby to make his holiday inn plans without her. Like a bad penny, Astaire turns up again, making a play for Crosby's new partner, Virginia Dale, creating issues as he becomes involved in the inn's increasing popularity. It's more of a serious plot than most original movie musicals of the time, but thanks to the intersection send great Berlin standards (and plenty of new material as well), even the blackfaced "Abraham" which really celebrates the end of slavery even with the tactless stereotypes popularized in minstrel shows. The success of this lead to a second Astaire/Crosby pairing ("Blue Skies") but other than more of that great Irving Berlin American songbook, it was quite a disappointment.

Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby), Ted Hanover (Fred Astaire), and Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale) have a popular act. Lila decides to not marry Jim and follow Ted in an act. Jim is blindsided and retires to a farm in Connecticut. He's a horrible farmer. One year later, Jim decides to turn the farm into an entertainment venue called "Holiday Inn" open only on holidays. Ted and his agent Danny Reed (Walter Abel) are not impressed. Flower shop girl Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds) recognizes talent agent Reed and he passes her off to Holiday Inn. Jim has a new song "White Christmas" and the Christmas show is a big hit. Meanwhile Lila leaves Ted for wealthy Texan. A drunken despondent Ted shows up at Holiday Inn and dances with Linda. They are an immediate hit as a new duo but Ted doesn't remember. Ted continues to come back to search for the mystery girl and Jim is unwilling to lose another partner to Ted.Let's get the blackface out of the way first. It's racist in today's world but it served a purpose for the plot. And back in the day, it wasn't racist. This movie is a fun comedy by two of the best song and dance men in the business. It has some great Irving Berlin standards and the romance is good.

This is a great movie. Bing Crosby is part of a team of singers and dancers. When he decides to retire to a farm this splits up the team that happens to include his intended wife. She wants to keep entertaining so goes with Fred Astaire. When Bing comes to the realization that his farm is failing he goes to plan B. He only opens the inn only on the holidays. This leads to Astaire trying to find the girl he danced with the night he came there drunk. A black woman is finally cast in a decent, all be it still subservient, role. Her two kids are so precious, precocious, and cute that they rise above the unfortunate stereotypes of the era. This is a fun movie with lots of dancing and singing plus pretty good acting and excellent humor.