Product: Holiday (1938)
Rating: 5.0
Classic and Well Balanced
This was one of those Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn movies I had never seen and I'm sorry I'd missed it. It is indeed an overlooked classic and considering it is Grant and Hepburn teamed with George Cukor that surprises me. Grant and Hepburn are in great form, each playing into the romantic comedy nature of the picture with full commitment. But don't get me wrong, this isn't some zany, screwball romantic comedy. There is some wonderful depth. When it needs to be charming, it does so brilliantly. When it needs to get a laugh, it does. But underlying it all, there is real human emotion here, and when it needs to turn serious, it does so well and with great ease. So yes, it is a romantic comedy, but it is one that is most often played quite real.Unsung in this movie also is the magnificent Lew Ayers who I almost didn't recognize. He, together with Hepburn, show us in lovely detail how a life ruled by money can be suffocating and demoralizing. It never gets preachy and it does end with a happily-ever-after, but this really is so much more than a "romance."