Product: Holiday (1938)
Rating: 5.0
Probably Hepburn's best romantic comedy...
Not as zany as Bringing Up Baby, or as ultimately offensive as The Philadelphia Story (which started the disappointing trend of humilitaing Hepburn's independence, eccentricity and intelligence by her usually uninteresting, conservative and 'down-to-earth' 'a woman must be a woman' leading men). Holiday allows Hepburn to be herself and celebrates her independence instead of making it a laughing matter. Her leading man, (Hepburn's finest co-star, Cary Grant), falls in love with her for herself, she is not 'reformed' or pulled down to earth as she inevitably was in her Spencer Tracy movies, where one was always made to feel that she was funny, but ultimately not a woman until tracy put her in her place, at his feet.Lew Ayres, Henry Daniell and Edward Everett Horton give fine supporting performances. This movie really is a must-see. Hepburn and Grant have an infectious, sometimes unabashedly sexual, chemistry. Its Hepburn playing herself (or the image one has come to identify with her). She is also less eager to irritate and steal scenes. She lets the script do its job. She also never looked better (except in Woman of the Year, and The Lion in Winter).Watch it!