Vibe
Christmas Holiday has a title that sounds comforting and a story that is almost aggressively opposed to comfort. A young Army officer stranded in New Orleans on Christmas Eve meets Jackie, a nightclub hostess whose account of her disastrous marriage becomes the film's central flashback. Deanna Durbin, then strongly associated with wholesome musical roles, plays against type as a woman trapped by love for a charming but criminal husband, played by Gene Kelly in one of his darkest performances. Robert Siodmak uses Christmas hymns, midnight Mass and stormy holiday atmosphere to frame betrayal, obsession and moral exhaustion. The Nativity-season language of renewal exists, but the film reaches toward it through noir fatalism rather than cheer.
Watch for
- Deanna Durbin working against her established musical persona
- Gene Kelly as a manipulative and dangerous husband
- Midnight Mass as a counterpoint to the noir story
- Woody Bredell's shadow-heavy photography
Production notes
AFI records Robert Siodmak as director, Felix Jackson as producer and Herman J. Mankiewicz as screenwriter, adapting W. Somerset Maugham's 1939 novel. Universal Pictures produced the feature, with Deanna Durbin, Gene Kelly, Richard Whorf, Gladys George and Gale Sondergaard in the cast. AFI lists a 92–93 minute running time and a 30 June 1944 release. The production was notable as a deliberate change of image for Durbin; contemporary trade reporting described it as the first role not specifically developed around her established screen persona. Cinematographer Woody Bredell gives the flashback-heavy melodrama shadowy noir texture, while Hans J. Salter's score received an Academy Award nomination.
Trivia
- Robert Siodmak directed the film.
- Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay.
- AFI lists a 92–93 minute runtime.
- The film adapts W. Somerset Maugham's novel.
- Hans J. Salter's score received an Academy Award nomination.
Legacy
The film is now valued partly for the startling contrast between its stars' usual images and the roles they play here. Gene Kelly is far removed from buoyant musical heroism, while Durbin's performance demonstrates dramatic range that her studio persona often obscured. Siodmak's direction also places the film within the developing American noir tradition. Christmas Holiday never became a seasonal perennial, and its summer release ensured that it lacked the annual ritual advantage of many holiday classics.