Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant on paper, I suppose, look like an odd pairing, but they were absolutely marvelous together, and "Holiday," directed by George Cukor, is no exception. Hepburn plays the unhappy, bored, but bright Linda in a dysfunctional, upper crust New York family. Her brother, Ned (Lew Ayres) is a miserable drunk, and her father controls the family with an iron hand and the ethic that money is their god. Their mother, who was like Linda, is deeply missed by her. Linda adores her younger sister, Julia, but has idealized her and doesn't see that she has the same upper class values as their father. When Julia brings home her fiancée, Johnny Case (Grant), it is immediately obvious to the audience (and later to the characters) that Johnny fell for the wrong girl.

"Holiday" is a film filled with heart, poignancy, and some warm humor provided by Johnny's friends, played by Edward Everett Horton and Jean Dixon, who come up against the society crowd at a party. Hepburn gives a beautiful performance as a young woman who wants to break free, and Ayres is heartbreaking as a man who can't. Grant, of course, is in the kind of role he did best in his early career, a young man from the wrong side of the tracks who is an independent spirit. He does some great gymnastics in the film, and he and Hepburn have a wonderful moment where she stands on his shoulders, and they fall into head rolls. Really marvelous stuff. The only problem I have is that the character of Julia, the younger sister, is so uptight and shallow, it's amazing that Johnny fell for her at all. Since they met while she was vacationing in Lake Placid, the audience must assume that out of the family home, she was more fun and playful, but when she comes up against her father, she falls right in with him.

Hepburn and Grant worked together in "Bringing Up Baby," "The Philadelphia Story," and this film - actually, three films in a row - plus "Sylvia Scarlett." One wishes they had appeared together even more. They had great chemistry.

Katharine Hepburn brought three Phillip Barry characters to life on the screen in Without Love, The Philadelphia Story and first and foremost Holiday. Her upper class upbringing in Connecticut made her the perfect actress for his plays about the fabulously wealthy which Depression Era USA just ate up.

Holiday of necessity had to be updated. It debuted on Broadway in the boom year of 1928 so some lines to acknowledge the Great Depression had to be included. When Henry Daniell says his obscene market profits would be better with the right kind of government, he's taking dead aim at the New Deal, in particularly the newly formed Security Exchange Commission.

One guy who wants out of the money making rat race is Cary Grant as Johnny Case. He's a poor kid who's worked his way up, probably the same as the founder of the Seton fortune did back in the day. But he's decided there's more to life than just making money. Like Grandpa Vanderhof in You Can't Take It With You or Charles Foster Kane who admittedly inherited his. Henry Kolker as Edward Seton and George Coulouris as Thatcher think exactly alike.

Case has a vision of his life and wants to share it with his fiancé Doris Nolan. But he's picked the wrong sister, it's younger sister Katharine Hepburn of the Seton girls who's his soul mate.

As one who's now retired and admittedly not living in the style of the Setons I can empathize with Cary Grant. As long as you have enough to live on and you have interests to occupy yourself and you don't have a family to support, why work? In fact make room for the next generation who might have a family to support.

In that sense Holiday has a message that applies more for today than it did in 1938. Make what you can, take care of those who depend on you, but get out and enjoy life.

And enjoy Holiday.

I really enjoyed this film a lot--thanks mostly to some wonderful performances and a pretty decent plot. Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn were excellent in the film and the writing was top-notch as well. And, for once, I really don't have any complaints about a film! The movie is a remake of a 1930 film (which I have unfortunately not been able to yet see) about a fun-loving guy who thinks he's met the girl of his dreams on a vacation and asks her to marry him. All this actually occurs before the movie begins. As the film starts, he is going to her home and finds that she's not the woman he expected--she comes from an incredibly wealthy family. Grant isn't upset at all about this--he likes the sudden prospect of a rich wife. But, what he doesn't realize is that she and her father are super-controlling and have no intention of letting him live the carefree life he's always envisioned. Over time, it becomes obvious that it isn't Grant that the girl loves, but her vision of what she can mold him into! Along the way, he also meets her alcoholic brother and free-spirited sister (Hepburn). Hepburn and Grant have a lot in common and eventually it becomes clear Hepburn is falling in love with her future brother-in-law! I don't really want to discuss the movie further, as it would spoil the film. But, the film is an excellent tale about finding the balance between money and success as well as happiness and personal freedom. The movie is quite charming and intelligently written and is well worth your time.

A final note--Although few would consider Ms. Hepburn sexy or even attractive in a traditional Hollywood sense, she is at her most radiant in this film. Part of it may be that her cheeks seem a bit fuller and less gaunt than usual--regardless, it is Hepburn at her most beautiful.