1938 - HOLIDAY - very good 30's comedy

 Cary Grant is the "free spirit" who falls in love with rich Manhattan socialite Julia Seton.  While being introduced to her family he meets her unconventional sister Linda and finds that she is actually more simpatico to his beliefs and lifestyle.

 Holiday was directed by George Cukor and in addition to Cary Grant, the film stars Katharine Hepburn as Linda Seton.  The film also has a very good supporting cast, Edward Everett Horton, Jean Dixon and Lew Ayers.  Cukor had previously directed Grant and Hepburn in a film called Sylvia Scarlett which was about cross dressing of all things and not a success unsurprisingly.  However Cukor was one of Hollywood's finest directors when it came to working with actors and he had a very successful collaboration with Hepburn on nine films during their careers.

Holiday was written by Philip Barry who wasn't above skewering the upper class.  The play was adapted by a couple of good screenwriters, Sidney Buchman and Donald Ogden Stewart.  The film has some witty dialog and makes it's points about the "idle rich" in an entertaining fashion.

 

Katharine Hepburn is definitely a unique personality and performer but I've always found her to be a little over the top.  Grant is excellent and was always a very good comedian.  He started his career in vaudeville and was something of an acrobat.  In this film he does some amazing back flips, lets see some leading men try that today.

The film runs 95 minutes.