Christmas Holiday
Encyclopedia
Christmas Holiday is a 1944 American drama film directed by Robert Siodmak
Robert Siodmak
Robert Siodmak was a German born American film director. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for the series of Hollywood film noirs he made in the 1940s.-Early life:...

. The black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...

 film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 is loosely based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...

. Producer Felix Jackson chose this project as a dramatic vehicle for Deanna Durbin
Deanna Durbin
Deanna Durbin is a Canadian-born, Southern California-raised retired singer and actress, who appeared in a number of musical films in the 1930s and 1940s singing standards as well as operatic arias....

. The screenplay was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz
Herman J. Mankiewicz
Herman Jacob Mankiewicz was an American screenwriter, who, with Orson Welles, wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane . Earlier, he was the Berlin correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the drama critic for The New York Times and The New Yorker. Alexander Woollcott, said that Herman Mankiewicz was...

, who counted it among his 40s successes of which he was most proud. Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...

 and Deanna Durbin are cast against type
Typecasting (acting)
In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...

 in this sordid and dark film. Kelly, soon to become one of MGM's leading musical stars, plays a charming yet murderous cad, while Durbin, usually the girl next door in Universal musicals, plays a naif who falls for him and sticks with him even knowing he's a killer. Gale Sondergaard is wonderfully cast as Kelly's tyrannical mother. Music director Hans Salter earned an Academy Award nomination. Although the film was a box office success for Durbin, she was criticised for having tarnished her trademark persona playing a dance-hall "hostess
Bargirl
A bargirl is a woman who works as a hostess or dancer in bars to provide company or sexual services to patrons; the exact nature of services and varieties of bar varying by country/region. In most cases, these cater mostly to male clients, although in some cases women are also clients...

". "Christmas Holiday" is considered one of the bleakest noirs of the 1940s, and one of Siodmak's most personally realized films.

Durbin sings the songs "Spring WIll Be A Little Late This Year" by Frank Loesser
Frank Loesser
Frank Henry Loesser was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and scores to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for...

 and "Always" by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...

. There are also excerpts from Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...

 (Liebestod
Liebestod
Liebestod is the title of the final, dramatic aria from the opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner. When used as a literary term, liebestod refers to the theme of erotic death or "love death" meaning the two lovers' consummation of their love in death or after death...

), and Latin Midnight Mass
Midnight Mass
Midnight Mass is a Christmas Eve liturgical tradition in the Roman Catholic church.Midnight Mass may also refer to:* Midnight, Mass., a Vertigo comics series* Midnight Mass, a 2004 novel by F...

.

Cast

  • Deanna Durbin
    Deanna Durbin
    Deanna Durbin is a Canadian-born, Southern California-raised retired singer and actress, who appeared in a number of musical films in the 1930s and 1940s singing standards as well as operatic arias....

     as Jackie Lamont/Abigail Manette
  • Gene Kelly
    Gene Kelly
    Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...

     as Robert Manette
  • Richard Whorf
    Richard Whorf
    Richard Whorf was an American actor, author, director, and designer.Richard was born in Winthrop, Massachusetts to Harry and Sarah Whorf. Richards's older brother was the well-known American linguist, Benjamin Lee Whorf. Whorf began his acting career on the Boston stage as a teenager then moving...

     as Simon Fenimore
  • Dean Harens
    Dean Harens
    Dean Harens was an American actor. He appeared in several movies and TV programs over four decades.Born in South Bend, Indiana in 1924, Harens' first appearance in a film came at the age of 24, in the 1944 film Christmas Holiday. He appeared in seven movies in all over his career, although never...

     as Charlie Mason
  • Gladys George
    Gladys George
    Gladys George was an American actress.-Early life:She was born as Gladys Clare Evans on September 13, 1904 in Patten, Maine to English parents.-Career:...

     as Valerie de Merode
  • Gale Sondergaard
    Gale Sondergaard
    Gale Sondergaard was an American actress.Sondergaard began her acting career in theatre, and progressed to films in 1936. She was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her film debut in Anthony Adverse...

     as Mrs. Manette
  • David Bruce
    David Bruce (actor)
    David Bruce was an American film actor, known for his chilling performance as Ted Allison in The Mad Ghoul....

    as Gerald Tyler
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