Christmas Holiday

Released Jun 7, 1944

1h 32m

Mystery & Thriller

List

78%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

49%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

A New Orleans nightclub singer (Deanna Durbin) tells a soldier the tragic tale of her marriage to a Creole scoundrel (Gene Kelly).

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Steve D

Nothing new but the acting is strong and it is great to see these stars play against type.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

06/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Christmas Holiday (1944) is a musical Christmas(?) noir. Filled with murder plots, music, and with Hollywood locations standing in for New Orleans. This is an adaption (sort of) W. Somerset Maugham book of the same name (with different setting ...and characters). Gene Kelly is in the movie but doesn't sing or dance (or attempt to do New Orleans's or Southern accent). At one point we get a large part of a Latin Mass and two orchestra numbers. Durbin sings 2 songs as well. This movie made money when it came out and was nominated for an academy award for its score. The dialog is fairly snappy but both Durbin and Kelly seem miscast (and fail to stretch into the material). The supporting cast is great. 3 stars out of 5 but you have to be in a odd mood for this to be the holiday movie you go with. If you know the Hayes code it is fun to see the numerous ways the film had to try to navigate around subject matter that they were not allowed to do or show.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

camille l

Christmas Holiday est un petit film noir qui permit à Gene Kelly et Deanna Durbin de changer de genre et de s'essayer à du contre-emploi. Si Gene Kelly campe un méchant plutôt réussi, Deanna Durbin ne s'en sort pas aussi bien (malgré ses numéros musicaux) et on s'ennuie quelque peu quand le premier n'est pas à l'écran. Robert Siodmak filme le tout en roue libre, sans réel intérêt. Sans être un véritable pensum, Christmas Holiday est tout de même peu important dans la filmographie de Gene Kelly et peut tout à fait être ignoré.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Unusual ingredients make up this strange pudding that wants to be a film noir but lands closer to melodrama, of a particularly bleak variety. Perhaps it doesn't feel quite like noir because the central protagonist, the narrator of the flashbacks, is female (played by teen actress Deanna Durbin in a grown up role). Watching women suffer the cruel twists of fate that the noir deals out doesn't create so much darkness as pity, especially when the woman is steadfast in her commitment to the wrong guy, the guy who caused her so much pain and misery. That guy is Gene Kelly in an early role - he always seemed to have a sinister problematic quality and he plays it up here. He is believable although Durbin (whose character has sunk to presumed prostitution) is not. Director Robert Siodmak (The Killers, Phantom Lady, etc.) lays all the noir trappings out but the underlying story by Somerset Maugham (The Razor's Edge), written for the screen by Herman J. Mankiewicz (Citizen Kane), is missing some edge. An odd framing device involving a soldier on Christmas furlough doesn't quite fit. As I said, it is a strange pudding that might have tasted better if it weren't a Deanna Durbin vehicle (albeit one designed to remake her image).

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Interesting casting, solid performances that almost elevate the thin script. Departures for both Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly, I wish Durbin had gotten more roles like this (or at least had been cast in some of Kelly's later musicals). Has a sort of strange framing device, it kind of messes with the pacing. Christmas Holiday is also surprising in that it was directed by Herman Mankiewicz, known probably most famously as the writer of Citizen Kane. This appears to have been his one chance at directing. I doubt he would have ever had the level of success as his brother, but it would have been interesting to see what he could have come up with in the future as a writer/director.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I was intrigued to see Gene Kelly play against type in this interesting if predictable noir.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

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Robert Siodmak

Director

Deanna Durbin

Jackie Lamont

Gene Kelly

Robert Manette

Richard Whorf

Simon Fenimore

Dean Harens

Lt. Charles Mason

Gladys George

Valerie De Merode

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J. Hoberman

Tablet

Christmas Holiday's misleading title is amusingly amplified by the presence of musical stars Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly.

Mar 16, 2021

Full Review

James Agee

TIME Magazine

An unsubstantial little tragedy at best ...

Feb 27, 2018

Full Review

Alberto Abuín

Espinof

A film that is simply passable, and that personally caused me a triple disappointment. [Full Review in Spanish]

Feb 14, 2020

Full Review

Elena de la Torre

Cine-Mundial

[Deanna Durbin] proves to have positive attributeds for a dramatic actress. [Full review in Spanish]

Sep 17, 2019

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Stylishly directed by Robert Siodmak, this film noir is uncharacteristic fare for both Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly.

Rated: B

Aug 26, 2012

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: B

Aug 26, 2012

Full Review

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Synopsis

A New Orleans nightclub singer (Deanna Durbin) tells a soldier the tragic tale of her marriage to a Creole scoundrel (Gene Kelly).

Director: Robert Siodmak
Screenwriter: Herman J. Mankiewicz
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal/Universal Int
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 7, 1944, Original
Release Date (DVD): Jun 14, 2007
Runtime: 1h 32m