Today's edition of Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post takes a look at not one but two films co-starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. I had high expectations for today's movies given how much I enjoyed the pairing of Hepburn and Grant in two of my all time favorite movies, Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story.
I hate to say it but I am not quite as enamored with the two films I'll be writing about today.
From 1938, we start with Holiday.
Cary Grant is Jonathan "Johnny" Case, a self-made man who has worked all his life and in whirlwind romance while on holiday in Lake Placid, NY, he gets engaged to Julia Seton.
Johnny and Julia go back home to share the news of their engagement with her family and it is only then that Johnny learns that Julia is part of an extremely wealthy family headed by her father, banker Edward Seton.
Edward is at first not happy about this would be interloper into the elite and respected Seton family but an investigation into Johnny's work history reveals a man of most industrious work ethic who has done very well by himself so no only does he bless the engagement of Johnny and Julia but offers his would be son in law a lucrative job in Edward's bank.
Johnny would just as soon as pass.
Johnny has worked all his life and would like to take a year or so the enjoy life.
Edward is perplexed by this plan. "What if you need more money?"
"Then I'll go back to work," is Johnny's reply.
The rock ribbed conservative Seton family is confused to the concept of making "enough" money and then actually not make any more for awhile.
Except for Julia's older sister, Linda (Katherine Hepburn).
Linda is warm and vivacious, a free spirit compared to the rest of the stuffy Seton family.
To be honest, Linda is a WAY better fit for Johnny than Julia but there's the whole matter of Johnny being engaged to Julia and that is spinning out of control with Edward planning a massive high society event on New Year's Eve to announce the engagement.
The rest of the film is a series of back and forths as Johnny is under a lot of pressure from the Setons to do what society says Johnny should do (the next step after making money is to make MORE money) while Linda empathizes with Johnny and it is clear that it is Johnny and Linda are the couple that is truly in love.
What will they do?
What... will... they... do?
Holiday holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 23 professional reviews.
At the time of it's release, The Hollywood Reporter compared Holiday to such films as It Happened One Night and The Awful Truth.
A reviewer in London said Holiday was one of director George Cukor's best films.
As for Dave-El's opinion?
I don't get it.
Objectively speaking, I concede the working parts of Holiday hold a lot of potential for a great film but it never really congeals as a whole for me. The movie does spark whenever Grant and Hepburn are sharing a scene but does are not as frequent as I would've liked.
Whatever my misgivings about Holiday, it is damn sight better than the other movie we're posting about today.
From 1935, it's Sylvia Scarlett.
In France, Henry Scarlett (Edmund Gwenn) and his daughter, Sylvia (Katharine Hepburn) are mourning the death of Sylvia's mother.
Henry needs to get out of France to escape gambling debts and he has a plan to smuggle stuff into England to avoid import fees. Henry is a most unscrupulous man but Sylvia still loves the old bastard and intends to accompany him. She cuts her hair and disguises herself as a boy named Sylvester.
On the boat to London, they meet a "gentleman adventurer", Jimmy "Monk" Monkley (Cary Grant) who in turn exposes Henry to customs officials, who take him in for interrogation.
Later on a train Henry and Sylvia/Sylvester encounter Monk, who he confesses is a smuggler, too, and he told the customs police about Henry to avoid being searched himself.
Well, that is the basis of a partnership so the trio set out to run con games and do crime.
The trio becomes a quartet when a maid from a high society household decides this itinerant life of low level crime is the life for her and joins the gang.
The gang of 4 now poses as a traveling troupe of entertainers.
Stuff.. happens.
Sylvia while disguised as Sylvester (reasons for the continued deception are unclear at this point) falls in love with a guy named Michael. Sylvia confesses she is really a girl too late and too sad, Mike already has a girl named Lily and it's a convoluted mess and...
Then Henry dies, y'all. ("Yay! I'm out of the movie!")
Sylvia and Mike head out to Paris on a train where they encounter Monk and Lily (so they're a thing now?) so Sylvia and Mike decide they too are a thing now and we've reached...
Oh thank God!
The end.
What the unholy hell was that?
Here's what others wrote at the time.
The New York Times: "The film has a sprawling, confused and unaccented way of telling its story."
Variety: "Despite good production values and some strong performances, Sylvia Scarlett is not a reliable candidate for public favor. The story is hard to get. It is puzzling in its tangents and sudden jumps plus the almost poetic lines that are given to Miss Hepburn. At moments the film skirts the border of absurdity and considerable of its mid-section is downright boresome."
I'll keep it simpler: Sylvia Scarlett is a mess.
I think part of the problem stems from the movie being adapted from a sprawling novel without any judicious editing of that sprawl to make it work as a movie. Hence the movie's nearly absurd jumps in story logic, narrative and character development.
Or to put it another way...
Sylvia Scarlett is a mess.
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Next week's Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post takes us to New Year's Eve and a classic from 1989 as we take a look at The Fabulous Baker Boys.
And next Sunday is the return of Doctor Who Is NEW! as we look at this year's Doctor Who Christmas special, "Joy To the World".
And there is another Countdown to Christmas 2024 Post later today.
