Holiday Inn (Sandrich, 1942)

An older gentlemen I know, a friend, a guy from Hollywood old enough to remember the Hollywood glory days every now and then gives me movie suggestions. One day awhile back I mentioned I had just seen Swing Time (Stevens, 1936), my very first Fred Astaire film. Incredulous, he proceeded to give me a list of Fred Astaire films that were must watch. After seeing Holiday Inn (Sandrich, 1942) I can honestly say I now see why both Astaire and Bing Crosby were as hugely popular and successful as they were. To say it best, Holiday Inn is a remarkable film and a masterpiece. And there are things from this film that endure within our culture to this very day.
The most enduring aspect of the film, the one most widely known is the song White Christmas. The song is used several times throughout the film and also serves as the signpost for the love story of the narrative between Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby) and Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds). The song is beautifully sung by Crosby and his rendition has become a holiday staple embedded in our lives. His deep and rich voice give the song resonance and I defy anyone to not immediately know the song upon hearing the first few bars. The song speaks ubiquity.
Speaking of things that are seemingly everywhere, are there two men more associated with their chosen professions than Astaire is to dancing and Crosby is to crooning? Both of these two performers, remarkable as they are, set the standards for so many that have followed since, and this is a testament to how incredible their talent was. And within this film, the dynamic that exists between Jim Hardy and Ted Hanover (Astaire) gives this film something extra, something special. It's as if the two of them together strike perfect balance. Neither allows the other to dominate the screen, or the narrative. Their opening and closing number, where they "battle" each other through singing and dancing is just incredible. Beautiful to the ears and to behold. And because of the strength of this film's narrative, their best work comes when both are neither singing or dancing. The chemistry between the two when vying for the affections of either Linda or Lila (Virginia Dale) is great and makes the film so much fun to watch. As Hanover and his agent run after Mason after spying her at the Inn, as Hardy leads them up and down the steps, inevitably delaying them, this is pure magic. Comedy at it's finest, with no crudeness or vulgarity. With today's shock and awe comedy, much of which fails to hold up five to ten years later, to see a work of such fine artistry hold up seventy years later makes a statement.
Unfortunately another statement is made as well. It is hard to go back and fault filmmakers for including things in their film after so much time has passed. It is still remarkably hard to watch any scene done in black face and for that matter any role portrayed by actual black actors seemingly prior to Sidney Poitier's arrival as a major player in Hollywood. To see Crosby and Reynolds singing Abraham in black face just hurts as does the caricature that Mamie and her family is within the text of the film. Surely the filmmakers had to struggle with this as years later it is still a wound to our collective psyches.
Finally, it is a struggle for myself personally sometimes to watch many of the old classics that I do. With a star such as Fred Astaire, many times his roles are the same from film to film. He was a star due to his magical feet and obviously Hollywood was going to capitalize on the magic of his dancing. Still, you would love to see some variance. And with Holiday Inn, I think I finally got to see that variance. Astaire is allowed to play against type a little, to be a heel. He goes after Crosby's girl not once but twice! And he is a career oriented guy willing to do anything for his career. A man self absorbed. Which, from what I've read about Astaire, is exactly what he was in real life. So in the end, this allowance of Astaire to play a more realistic role ultimately sets this film above his others for me. I would love to be able to transpose Astaire into a role done today, and see if with some more realistic acting training he couldn't just amaze us as he did in the early days of Hollywood. Holiday Inn is a remarkable film, something everyone should rent around Christmas and watch with the family. It's well worth it.