Category: 1938

Holiday (1938)

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We live in a world where numbers form a majority. How much ever an individual tries to be different, he or she often encounters the majority, be it in the form of opinions, values, or the way things need to be handled, and the best of all is, the way to lead one’s life.

Wish it was as simple as following a book of code written by one individual. The point is not to berate or deride the opinions made by the person who shared his views on leading life; the mistake is to believe that is the only way to lead a life.

Holiday epitomises such kind of mood through various protagonists who dare to question the status quo. Johnny Case (Cary Grant) a charming young businessman who goes by his inner voice. One can see how he goes about his life and the view he holds for his life.

He is in love with Julia Seton (Doris Nolan) and proposes to her to marry him. She agrees. How often we marry the person we love and say we share each other’s vision for life?

Are we complacent that we can persuade the other partner to make them come to terms with our expectations?

Well, to make love, it isn’t. To marry, it becomes the talking point. The free spirit that often embodies the lovers is narrowed when the talk of marriage does the rounds.

What is it that marriage continues to hold a different view?

Marriage involves society to a more considerable extent, and this has continued through ages and will continue. One can fall in love, and that’s acceptable, but can we marry the same in all situations? Often society comes to the picture, and in immense interest, I believe it’s a form of excuse unless it considers the individual.

Johnny is surprised to know the wealthy status of Julia. He meets Linda (Katherine Hepburn), Julia’s free-spirited sister, and Ned (Lew Ayres), who feel bottled up under their father’s authoritarian behaviour.

The movie has a kid’s playroom analogous and quite a contrast to the outer world, which calls for increased sophistication and hypocrisy. Linda is in love with Johnny as she finds him to be the right guy who would respect and complement her free-spiritedness.

Although Johnny is in love with Julia, he can’t deny that he is intellectually connected to Linda.

Irrespective of her being rich, he is keen on holding on to his dreams. On the other hand, Julia is convinced about Johnny accepting her dad’s proposal of working and earning money. While asking Julia’s hand, Johnny speaks his heart to her dad, which surprises Julia.

The idea of Johnny working for few years and then taking a holiday to discover his life doesn’t fit the bill of pragmatism as per Julia and her dad. Although he couldn’t convince Julia, Johnny convinced Linda with his Vivre de Joie without convincing her.

The movie isn’t a serious one; it has well-written dialogues and is more of a romantic comedy-drama.

The child playroom is often seen as a metaphor to allow the kid within us to be playful even while growing each day.

Directed by George Cukor, this movie brings out the best of Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, and the chemistry they share on-screen is something that’s been talked about by many over the years. The storyline isn’t out of the box but a simple reflection on the society we live in.

The playroom scenes of tricycles, puppets, and other horse saddling remind us that each individual has a fearless child inside us who loves to enjoy irrespective of what others think in its fashion. This certainly is one of my favourite Cary Grant movies.

Released in 1938, Holiday is a remake of the 1930 movie of the same title. Holiday managed to get a Oscar nomination under the category of Best Art direction with the affluent sets being used.

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

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When there is confusion, it cannot be delightful. Well, move to the other end of this spectrum of convolution; one can have some fun as well. As an audience, I would say it is more enjoyable to watch both ends than face one.

Bringing up Baby is one such movie that I believe was ahead of its era. Comedy had a taste of logic in it. The confusion was more attributed to thrillers and dramas than to comedy in general. It was quite a bomb when this movie was released so much that director Howards Hawks had to be removed from the existing contract with RKO Productions.

Katherine Hepburn enters the world of comedy with her spectacular performance in the role of Susan Vance.

Susan Vance is eccentric, at times lunatic, teams up with the sophisticated palaeontologist Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant) in a series of misadventures that take them from one place to another.

Their lines, witty jokes, and, more importantly, demonstrate why they are still revered among the legends in Hollywood’s comedy history.

In need of $ 1 million to complete the brontosaurus skeleton’s project, David is trying hard to please the endower Mrs. Carleton Random. In that case, he accidentally encounters Susan at a golf course.

A young terrier steals the fossil bone and buries it under the earth. Taming the baby (a leopard), which was a gift from Susan’s brother. When David says, ‘he went gay’ when questioned about his female attire. These are some of the goofy incidents that pack up this movie.

David is misunderstood by Susan to be a zoologist and begs him to help her transport the baby to her aunt. He postpones his marriage to help Susan well; he is forced into it.

Susan believes she is in love with David and tries her best not to let go of David. Upon reaching the aunt’s place, one has many more fun situations with George (Asta, the terrier), leopard escaping, etc.

In search of the baby, George, and the missing bone, David and Susan both end up in prison due to confusion. In the end, everything clears up like all the comedies. David remains unmarried, and his donation to complete the project has also been rejected.

Susan meets David to return the bone and gets to know the situation David is in. She decides to donate $1 million through her Aunt Elizabeth and makes him confess that he likes her standing on the brontosaurus’s skeleton.

Considered to be one of the classic movies and one of the best from Howard Hawks, this screwball comedy got its due at a later stage after the public and critics’ initial rejection.

Cary Grant plays the role to perfection. Quite zany, he is apt for a researcher’s part, who is engaged and trying to coax the endowers so that he could complete the project. His character David Huxley’s looks were modelled on the real-life silent comedian Harry Lloyd. The title role of Baby was played by Nissa (II), a leopard.

Some of the movie scenes, such as the torn dress scene in the restaurant, have been re-made in other movies like the 1964 Man’s Favourite Sport and has also been adapted loosely twice in 1972 Peter Bogdanovich’s What’s Up Doc?, and the 1986 Madonna starrer Who’s that Girl?

Released in 1938, this movie was adapted to screen by writers Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde from a story written by Wilde, published in Collier’s Weekly magazine in 1937.