Holiday (1938)

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

Philip Barry (play)
Donald Ogden Stewart (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 June 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

So daring -- so tender -- so human -- so true -- that everyone in love will want to see it!

Plot:

Free-thinking Johnny Case finds himself betrothed to a millionaire's daughter. When her family, with...

Plot Keywords:

Holiday | Engagement | Free Spirit | Family Relationships | Playroom

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Katharine Hepburn	...	Linda Seton
Cary Grant	...	John 'Johnny' Case
Doris Nolan	...	Julia Seton
Lew Ayres	...	Edward 'Ned' Seton
Edward Everett Horton	...	Professor Nick Potter
Henry Kolker	...	Edward Seton
Binnie Barnes	...	Mrs. Laura 'The Witch' Cram
Jean Dixon	...	Mrs. Susan Elliott Potter
Henry Daniell	...	Seton 'Dopey' Cram
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harry Allen	...	Scotchman (scenes deleted)
Frank Benson	...	Scotchman (scenes deleted)
Aileen Carlyle	...	Farm Girl (scenes deleted)
Edward Cooper	...	Scotchman (scenes deleted)
Robert Hale	...	Scotchman (scenes deleted)
Margaret McWade	...	Farmer's Wife (scenes deleted)
Frank Shannon	...	Farmer (scenes deleted)
Charles Trowbridge	...	Banker (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Free to Live (UK)
Unconventional Linda (UK) (reissue title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Australia:G | Finland:S | Germany:o.Al. | Portugal:M/6 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #4269)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Eighteen months before Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind (1939), Katharine Hepburn says "damned" in a Production Code-approved Hollywood movie. The occurrence isn't gratuitous: She's recounting her experience in amateur theatrics and, in camp style, performs a fragment of Lady MacBeth's "Out damned spot" sleepwalking line from Shakespeare.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Katherine Hepburn decides to come downstairs to join the New Year's Eve party, her hairstyle in the scene when she begins her descent changes in the next scene as she is descending the stairs.

Quotes:

Linda Seton: For the love of Pete... it's the witch and Dopey!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Delphinsommer (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

One of Cukor's best

Likeable urbane comedy about an ill-fated courtship and the romance that springs up in the shadows behind it. Grant and Hepburn are fresh and fun to watch; Grant impresses with what feels like ad-libbed quips and shows off his vaudeville background by doing numerous gymnastic stunts. Hepburn sheds her usual stuffy airs and lets fly as a "black sheep" heiress, the betrothed's sister. Cukor directed it in his best imitation of Howard Hawks, but with his own personal style added -- like the "realistic" feminine relationship between Hepburn and her sister (Nolan) which deteriorates by the film's end into stereotypes.