Holiday (1938)
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100% of critics liked it
(22 reviews) -
88% of users liked it
(6,287 ratings)
Both film versions of Phillip Barry's stage comedy Holiday have their merits, but the 1938 version has the added advantage of supercharged star power. Katharine Hepburn and Doris Nolan play Linda and Julia Seton, two daughters of a very well-to-do family. Linda feels a bit lost in the shuffle as… More Both film versions of Phillip Barry's stage comedy Holiday have their merits, but the 1938 version has the added advantage of supercharged star power. Katharine Hepburn and Doris Nolan play Linda and Julia Seton, two daughters of a very well-to-do family. Linda feels a bit lost in the shuffle as sister Julia prepares to marry self-made financier Cary Grant. Hepburn has always rebelled against her privileged trappings, and finds a kindred spirit in the unorthodox, iconoclastic Grant. On the verge of compromising his down-to-earth values with his marriage to the wealth-obsessed Nolan, Grant chooses instead to plight his troth with soul-mate Hepburn, celebrating his "liberation" by doing several cartwheels. Donald Ogden Stewart is careful to bring the pre-Depression frivolities of the Barry play up-to-date, first by changing the character of Grant's best friend (played in both films by Edward Everett Horton) from a lazy socialite to a dedicated professor, and by including several lines indicating how out of touch the privileged classes are--and choose to remain--with 1930s realities. The only element in which the remake does not improve on the original is in the casting of Hepburn's alcoholic younger brother; charming though Lew Ayres is in the 1938 film, he is still outclassed by Monroe Owsley in Holiday (1930). Katharine Hepburn managed to temporarily defray her "box office poison" onus when Holiday proved to be a success; alas, her next film, Bringing Up Baby (which reteamed her with Grant), was a financial bust, compelling her to return to Broadway--where she made a spectacular comeback in another Philip Barry play, The Philadelphia Story. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- George Cukor
- Written By
- Donald Ogden Stewart, Sidney Buchman
- Genres
- Drama, Romance, Classics, Comedy
- In Theaters
- Jun 15, 1938 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Repertory
Critic Reviews
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Variety Staff, Variety
George Cukor brings out the best from all the players.
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Tom Milne, Time Out
One of Cukor's best films.
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
There are a thousand nonconformist comedies, but only one Holiday.
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Josh Larsen, LarsenOnFilm
Before they made The Philadelphia Story, George Cukor, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn teamed up for this decidedly less flattering look at the life of the upper class.
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Wesley Lovell, Cinema Sight
Character dramas are often at their best when exploring inside worlds and not running free outside.
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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Katharine Hepburn
as Linda Seton
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Cary Grant
as Johnny Case
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Doris Nolan
as Julia Seton
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Lew Ayres
as Ned Seton
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Edward Everett Horton
as Nick Potter
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Binnie Barnes
as Laura Cram
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Henry Kolker
as Edward Seton
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Jean Dixon
as Susan Potter
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Henry Daniell
as Seton Cram
- Harry Allen
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Marion Ballou
as Grandmother
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Aileen Carlyle
as Farm Girl
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Edward Cooper
as Scotchman
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Luke Cosgrave
as Grandfather
- Ruth Donnelly
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Neil Fitzgerald
as Edgar
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Bess Flowers
as Dorothy's Party Guest
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Mitchell Harris
as Jennings
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George Hickman
as Telegraph Boy
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Howard Hickman
as Man in Church
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Matt McHugh
as Taxi Driver
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Margaret McWade
as Farmer's Wife
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George Pauncefort
as Edgar
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Hilda Plowright
as Woman in Church
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Charles Richman
as Thayer
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Frank Shannon
as Farmer
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Charles Trowbridge
as Banker
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Lillian West
as Mrs. Thayer
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Maurice Brierre
as Steward
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Maude Hume
as Maid