This is one of the movies I consistently try to introduce people to; a relatively unknown yet tremendously rewarding viewing experience. The script is remarkably intelligent and witty, yet, not at all mannered or artificial - the characters fully justify the lines. This is one of Cary Grant's very best performances, and one of Katherine Hepburn's; the chemistry between them is striking, far beyond the better-known (also excellent) The Philadelphia Story, and worlds beyond (charming but far more lightweight) Bringing Up Baby. The key is the directing, of course, plus one of their best scripts - or anyone's. They and Lew Ayres, especially, make you feel strongly for them, and supporting characters Doris Nolan, Edward Everett Horton, Henry Kolker and Jean Dixon make significant contributions. The overall arc of the story is somewhat predictable, but the details are wonderful. You do not want to miss a word, a facial expression, a nuance, from beginning to end.

HOLIDAY (Columbia, 1938), directed by George Cukor, from the 1928 stage play by Philip Barry, is an updated comedy with serious overtones that marked the third screen collaboration of Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. While there are those who'd rather ignore their initial pairing of SYLVIA SCARLETT (RKO, 1935), in favor of the fast-paced/ madcap comedy of BRINGING UP BABY (1938), HOLIDAY, which immediately followed, offers both sophistication and originality, in spite the fact that the story had been filmed eight years earlier (Pathe, 1930)starring Ann Harding (Linda), Mary Astor (Julia), Robert Ames (John) and Monroe Owsley (Ned). The advantage both films have is the delightful presence of character actor Edward Everett Horton playing Nick Potter in both versions. For this edition, HOLIDAY, both Hepburn and Grant are at their finest.Set in New York City during both the Christmas and New Year's holidays, the narrative opens with 30-year-old Johnny Case (Cary Grant), returning from his skiing vacation in Lake Placid by taxi. He first stops over the apartment of his very best friends, Nick (Edward Everett Horton), a college professor, and his wife, Susan (Jean Dixon), with the news that he's met and now engaged to a girl he's met during his holiday, and will be married in ten days. This is followed by his visit to the home of his fiancé, Julia Seton (Doris Nolan) where he's to meet and acquaint himself with her family. To his surprise, Johnny finds Susan a debutante living in a Park Avenue mansion with stairways and elevators big enough to pass as a museum. During the course of the story, Johnny is introduced to Julia's brother, Ned (Lew Ayres), an unhappy individual who drowns his sorrows with alcoholic drinks; her sister, Linda (Katharine Hepburn), a carefree heiress who takes an immediate like towards the equally carefree Johnny; and her father, Edward Seton (Henry Kolker), a serious-minded banker whose business comes ahead if his family. He is both stunned and appalled after being told by Susan during his attendance in church of her engagement, and now intends to learn more about this young man. Linda, a "black sheep" of the family with sentimental memories of her late mother, yearns the love and affection from her father. She finds comfort in the family playroom on the fourth floor that was formerly her mother's place for escape. After the New Year's Eve engagement party for which Linda chooses not to attend, the Seton family is appalled to learn that Johnny, having worked since he was ten, has his own philosophy to enjoy life first by retiring young and going back to work after comprehending the reason for working in the first place. While Linda sides with his right to be free and happy while still young to enjoy life, both Julia and her father have other means of persuading Johnny to think as they do. Also appearing in the cast are Henry Daniell (Seton Cram, Julia's cousin); Binnie Barnes (Laura Cram, Seton's wife) Bess Flowers, Matt McHugh and Neil Fitzgerald, among others. The direction of George Cukor translates Donald Ogden Stewart's screenplay into a well produced production. Not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but a pleasant 93 minutes. Of those in the Seton family, Lew Ayres, shortly before achieving success in the "Doctor Kildare" film series (1938-1942) for MGM, wins both sympathy and honors for his realistic approach of a unhappy single man unable to fulfill his life's ambition as both drummer and composer of the "Seton Concert," now tied down to his strict father's idea of family tradition in the business world. Hepburn's Linda, the stronger of the siblings, a misunderstood member of the family, would rather lose her father's love than her the self-respect lost to her brother, Ned. Doris Nolan, who at times resembles Joan Fontaine through her profile and Fontaine hairstyle of the day, best described as "sweet and intelligent" who, in actuality, to be more like her father than her free-spirited sister. Amusing highlights include Grant's backward flip-flops to express happiness, Horton and Dixon's mini puppet show, and Hepburn's expertise in handling her character to resemble that of her personal self. She and Grant make a grand team, and it shows how much they commend each other with their scenes. Hepburn and Grant would team one more time in another screen adaptation of Philip Barry's based play to THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (MGM, 1940), shortly before Kate would win immortality with her much better known screen partner of Spencer Tracy in nine feature films during the course of 25 years.Due to the fact that HOLIDAY was formerly broadcast on commercial television often during the Christmas season, for some reason it's seldom listed as a "holiday" movie, hence the title. Aside from early distribution onto video cassette in the 1980s, and decades later on DVD, cable television broadcasts have varied, but commonly found on Turner Classic Movies where it been airing since its humble beginnings dating back to 1994. (****)

I almost always take a remake with a grain of salt. In this case I make an exception, because I had the opportunity to see the original. HOLIDAY is a pretty good comedy. Thematic perhaps a little worn, but dramatic and acting is very good.Cukorov film on freedom of mind, serenity and true love is a good guess. It brings together a disheartened woman of revolutionary spirit and a career-man who dreams of indolent bliss, their romance kindled in fraught circumstances, and offers a refreshing slant in a romantic-comedy genre frequently hampered by insipid characterization.I think it's growing chemistry between Grant and Hepburn again been hit. It is equally expressed in the comedic and serious situations. The two are a perfect match and the chemistry increases in the culmination of the film.Grant (Johnny Case) a hard-working man who opens wide paths in life. Doris Nolan (Julia Seton) is glamorous and obsessed position and wealth. Cukor tried to alleviate, as much as he could, this difference in levels of society. So that she felt most in comical situations. The relationship is a critical human factor. Katharine Hepburn (Linda Seton) It is unusual lively and fun Julia's sister. Johnny's soul mate and a very positive character. It's a little spoiled, stubborn and disobedient. Just enough to win over the audience. I have the impression that Linda wants to please everyone, but at least to itself. Love is the factor that it finally align the cubes. Lew Ayres (brother Ned Seton) is a good-natured drunkard who sees, hears and feels, and has the courage to confront his father. The man destroyed in spirit. Henry Kolker (Edward Seton) is strictly business banker, who only future for their children see the money. Johnny's friends Nick (Edward Everett Horton) and Susan Potter (Jean Dixon) are very entertaining. As such, they are the voice of reason on the one side and on the other side.This film is quite interesting, but thought it was not found the back of the former audience. People are not crazy about the rich love games.

I thought I was a retired middle school principal, but apparently I'm wrong. I must be a comedian. I say that because people describe this as a comedy because it has some humor in it. I tell an occasional joke, hence I must be a comedian.This is a comedy? Let's see. You have the leading man in love with two women -- sisters. One sister is depressed about her life, but is brought alive when she meets her sister's finance. The other sister is in love with the leading man, but wants him to conform to her father's staid view of what life in high places should be. The father is a relic from New York City's elite, which is becoming passé since the Great Depression; meanwhile he stifles both (but particularly one) daughters to the point that one is in a state of depression. The brother is an alcoholic. The romantic lead has to decide whether to let one sister and the father ruin his dreams for his life, or marry the depressed sister who understands his dreams. So much for this being a comedy.That's not to say there's not humor here. Cary Grant repeatedly doing acrobatic tricks (he had formerly been an acrobat), and Katherine Hepburn joining him. A genuinely funny performance by Edward Everett Horton and his movie wife -- Jean Dixon.Perhaps the reason that this did not succeed at the box office was that Columbia pegged it as a comedy, but that's not what audiences found after they paid for their tickets. Perhaps critics, who generally praised the film, released what the film really was. I, too, give this film high marks for standing above many films of the time. The characters come alive far more than they did in many other films of the general time period. Grant, Hepburn, Horton and Dixon are superb, and at the very least, the rest of the actors do their jobs.There are many Cary Grant comedies. If that's what you want, go elsewhere. But if you want to see several outstanding performances in roles that are rather compelling...yet with a charming mix of humor mixed in here and there, this is the film for you.