Holiday Inn (1942)

Oh yeah! It's Christmas movie time. And I decided to start out my pantheon of Christmas films with this little nugget from 1942. Mark Sandrich's Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Marjorie Reynolds, with music by the great Irving Berlin. This film has it all folks. Singing, dancing and romance. It's the movie that first introduced the classic song White Christmas. It's the first movie I know of that deconstructs itself, pulling away the third wall, letting us see the actual sound stage on which the film is filmed while it is filming. And it's funny, with Crosby quipping such one-liners as, "Right now we've got the ledger in an iron lung." My fifteen-year-old daughter laughed her head off while watching it the other night. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most racist movies you will ever see, with Crosby and Reynolds performing in black face, and incomparable Louise Beavers forced to sing about how Abraham Lincoln "set the darkies free." Some of these scenes will literally set your teeth on edge. But bight down and bear through it. Remind yourself that performers like Beavers and Hattie McDaniel paid their dues and paved the road for the likes of Denzel Washington and Halle Barry. Besides, the rest of the film is worth the watching.

Jim Hardy (Crosby), Ted Hanover (Astaire) and Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale) are an entertaining trio, singing and dancing their lives away. But Ted wants to retire and live on a farm in Connecticut. Ted is engaged to Lila, who wants fame and fortune, so she decides to jilt Jim on Christmas Eve and stay with Ted. Jim goes off alone to live the good life on the farm. But farm living isn't all it's cracked up to be, and before the year is out Jim is in a sanitarium for his nerves. When he gets out, he's got a great idea for his farm. He'll turn it into Holiday Inn - a restaurant and dance hall that's only open on holidays. He hires up-and-coming singer and dancer Linda Mason (Reynolds) to perform with him, and the place opens to rave reviews on New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, Lila breaks off her engagement with Ted on New Year's Eve too, and a besotted Ted shows up at the inn, dances a fabulous number with Linda, before passing out cold on the dance floor. When he comes to the next morning, he remembers he found a great new dance partner, but he doesn't remember what she looked like. Now all of the pieces are on the board and the game is in motion. Ted tries to figure out who the mysterious dancing lady is, and Jim tries to foil his attempts at every turn. Once Ted learns that Linda is his "new partner," he tries everything in the world to get her away from Jim. In the end, Jim's own desperation causes him to sabotage Linda's opportunity to try out in front of a Hollywood talent scout, and she leaves Jim for Ted and Hollywood.

That's all I'm going to tell you about the story. If you want to see how it's all resolved and who wins the girl in the end, you're going to have to watch the movie. You won't be sorry you did. The dancing sequences are simply astounding. Astaire's Fourth of July dance alone makes the entire film worthwhile. Then there are the wonderful songs by Berlin, who truly was one of the greatest songwriters who ever lived. Listening to his music, it's easy to see why for the first half of the twentieth century popular music was jazz. And then there are all of the jokes and one-liners. Finally, there are the performances, all of which are first-rate. Walter Abel as Ted's agent Danny and Irving Bacon as Gus the driver almost steal the show from Crosby and Astaire. Trust me, if you like good movies, you're gonna love this film.

Holiday in is rated G. It's filmed in glorious black-and-white, and it has a runtime of 100 minutes.