After being a performer for so long and being fed up with his hectic schedule Jim Hardy [Bing Crosby] decides to retire and live the rest of his life on a farm.  After that fails to live up to his expectations he decides to turn it into a special kind of club, The Holiday Inn, where people can come on each public holiday and enjoy a special song and dance show he put on with all his guests.

I must say watching this movie this is the least qualified film for this marathon.  It definitely has Christmas mentioned but it’s more of a general holiday themed film about how an entertainer never gets a day off throughout the year.  Unlike White Christmas which had the Bing teamed up with a sidekick (Danny Kaye in that case) Bing was more or less on his own throughout this movie having to play off random characters in the story for the comedy that we know films from this era so well for.  However Bing pulls it off as usual, with his silky smooth nature not only on vinyl but also on screen.

It’s also has to be said that it was great to meet for the first time the feet of one of the greatest Hollywood dancers of this age of cinema.  Of course I speak of the great Fred Astaire, playing Ted Hanover.  He knows how to make it seem effortless like no one today can.  Even in the scene when he comes to the inn drunk and does his dance with Linda [Marjorie Reynolds] it was amazing to watch Fred moving around with such skill that I can only imagine took them weeks to plan and he pulls off the look of regressing to basic muscle memory due to his character’s intoxication levels at that point in the movie.

As a musical it ranks high up there.  Unbeknownst to me this is the movie, not White Christmas, which introduced the world to the all time best selling record White Christmas.  According to Wikipedia “The song initially performed poorly and was overshadowed by the film’s first hit song: “Be Careful, It’s my Heart””. Which surprises me because even though the song isn’t the centre-piece of the movie it still is as great the first time as it is the billionth time you’re hearing it from the king of all the crooners himself.  However, at the same time the song Be Careful, It’s my Heart was a great piece and the whole thing that went along with it on screen was a joy to see.

One thing that I have to take note of in this film is the song Abraham.  Now I think this may be the very first time (excepting Bamboozled which directly tackled this) I’m seeing a film use black face.  In this scene, which apparently AMC cut from the film when they show it on TV, Bing decides to do his number with Marjorie in black face and even though I know exactly what this type of theatre represented at the time in this particular instance I didn’t feel as though it was being racist.  Let me be clear, I am not condoning it, I’m just merely commenting on my odd feelings towards the scene.  Below is an embed of the song, you watch it and let me know exactly what you feel about it:

All in all is a fun film, filled with romance, music and dance.  It’s exactly how your grandmother remembers it and now you’ll understand when she talks to you about some of the actors in this film.  I definitely enjoyed it and recommend it to any and all.

IMDB says 7.4/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 100%

I say 8.0/10