Stellar performances by Nancy Carroll and Phillips Holmes as well as supporting actors and you are in for a real treat if you like human drama. The directing by Edmund Goulding is able to achieve the right conclusion and you can see that a lot of effort was put into this movie which was produced in 1930, a time when talkies have been out for only a few years. Edmund Goulding also wrote the screenplay for the movie. This movie has substance. There is character development by several characters and spiritual overtones. What is greater than being selfish and "bad" and admitting it? With inimitable virtuosity, Nancy Carroll is able to traverse this course of human change. She incidentally was nominated for an Oscar in 1930 for this movie. Phillips Holmes is able to play his difficult part to the hilt as a naive and sweet character hopelessly in love. Actually, these two are magic together as can be seen in the movies Stolen Heaven and Broken Lullaby.

Edmund Goulding's morality tale stars Nancy Carroll as a pretty, gold digging manicurist who attracts the wealthy heir to a harvesting machine fortune (Phillips Holmes). After he pursues her energetically, she agrees to marry him, but when he brings her home to his family's country estate, his father (Hobart Bosworth in a plummy performance right out of 19th century melodrama) summons her to his den for a confrontation about her true motives. There, he swiftly draws out the worst in her and offers her $50,000 to end the marriage. Meanwhile, out on the staircase, the young husband falls and injures himself severely during a violent confrontation with his disapproving older brother. Nouveau riche Nancy nevertheless high tails it back to the big city to spend freely and pack for a dream trip to Paris. Trouble is, she slowly realizes she actually loves Holmes, now a semi-invalid. Can she, will she, redeem herself? It doesn't take long to find out in the perfunctorily structured plot resolution. Holmes and Carroll are more convincing here than in another pairing from around the same time ("Stolen Heaven," 1931).

Beautiful manicurist Nancy Carroll (as Hallie Hobart) sets her sights on handsome Philips Holmes (as David Stone), the son of wealthy wheat farmer Hobart Bosworth (as Ezra Stone). Professing to hate men, Ms. Carroll is only interested in luring Mr. Holmes in for a lucrative business deal. Holmes easily falls in love, but older brother James Kirkwood (as Mark Stone) brands Carroll a low-life gold-digger. To get even with the straight-laced Stone family, Carroll accepts Holmes' marriage proposal. Then, while Carroll and the family negotiate the cost of her departure, she falls unexpectedly in love… Well, make that expectedly… "The Devil's Holiday" is a creaky, but worthwhile "early talkie" drama. First of all, it features Carroll's second-place finishing "Academy Award" performance as "Best Actress" (Norma Shearer won for her "Divorcée"). At the time, Carroll was a considered a "new" talking pictures star; in that respect, she was the first "talkie"-dominant actress to move in on the "Quigley Poll" top ten list of established "silent" stars. Carroll was #10 in 1929, and seemed assured of super-stardom with the new dramatic range she showed in "Devil's Holiday" (where she displayed real sweat and tears).Holmes is also at his best, playing the love-struck rich kid with wide-eyed innocence. And, he gets one of those great "smacked on the staircase" scenes. Holmes falls in love three times in this movie, but only for Nancy Carroll. She and Holmes had great chemistry, as you'll see; and, box office returns dictated they would be re-teamed fairly quickly (for the close to, but not quite "Stolen Heaven"). Writer/director Edmund Goulding manages well considering it was early 1930. You also get two pioneer players, Messrs. Kirkwood and Bosworth, in featured roles; and, the minor cast members are used very well.******* The Devil's Holiday (5/9/30) Edmund Goulding ~ Nancy Carroll, Phillips Holmes, James Kirkwood, Hobart Bosworth

Nancy Carroll's opportunity to show Hollywood that she could handle more substantial parts than the musical fluff she was always given came about by the death of another actress. Jeanne Eagels was a top Broadway actress who had originated the role of Sadie Thompson in "Rain". She had appeared in a few films when she suddenly died of a heroin overdose. "The Devil's Holiday' was to have been her next film. After Ruth Chatterton's name was mentioned, people remembered the impression Nancy had made as the hardened chorus girl in "The Shopworn Angel" (1928) and the role was hers. This was also her first pairing with Phillips Holmes.Hallie Hobart (Nancy Carroll) is a manicurist who earns most of her money in commissions, entertaining out of town buyers of farm machinery and persuading them to purchase from her associates. Charlie Thorn (the brilliant Ned Sparkes) has a proposition for "the little fella" as he calls her. He wants to introduce her to David Stone (Phillips Holmes), the youngest son of one of the wealthiest men in the country. He is a country "hick" and Hallie believes she will have no trouble in taking him to the cleaners. She gets him in her clutches and Kent Carr ( Jed Prouty) a rival salesman sends for David's brother Mark (James Kirkwood). He talks to Hallie and they have a showdown. He tells her that "her kind" have been hunted off the streets and are now masquerading as decent working girls. David then proposes to her and she agrees, thinking that she will demand $50,000 to abandon him if his father will agree.Back at the farm Hallie finds she is having feelings for David, who is doing his best to make her feel wanted and loved, but she manages to fight them off. David's father Ezra (Hobart Bosworth) does offer her $50,000 to leave the house and she accepts. Meanwhile David and Mark have a fight on the stairs and David is hurt.Hallie is now back in the city, but she has changed, she has become melancholy and surrounds herself with hangers on and alcohol. David has recovered but Dr. Reynolds (Paul Lucas) the only doctor David feels understands him, thinks the only sure cure would be Hallie's return. Ezra goes to the city to bring her back, but when he sees Hallie drinking and carousing, disgustedly returns to the farm. Hallie has a change of heart and has sold everything she owns to return the money to Ezra. After another confrontation with the family, David has a relapse when he realises that initially Hallie was bought off, but he then rallies knowing that now he has Hallie's unconditional love.This was a really great movie and unlike many old films did not play on viewers emotions. It showed that Nancy Carroll was up there with the film greats and not just a song and dance cutie.Highly Recommended.