Our take
Holiday marked Katharine Hepburn’s Hollywood comeback, and for good reason– she’s the best out of the cast, she’s downright magnetic, and her dynamic with Cary Grant is effortlessly compelling. All of these elements would have made a standard romcom work. However, there’s more to Holiday than what meets the eye. Underneath this droll comedy of manners is a sadness that lies in the wealthy family it’s poking fun at, and that melancholy proved to be a more potent critique, as the riches they can’t help but acquire couldn’t help fill the emptiness left with their mother’s death and couldn’t free them to do what they truly wanted to do. Holiday might not have resonated with audiences during the Great Depression, but it nonetheless makes for a surprisingly profound classic about personal freedom.
What it won
Oscars
1 nom
Nat. Board of Review
1 win
The story
Johnny Case, a freethinking financier, has finally found the girl of his dreams — Julia Seton, the spoiled daughter of a socially prominent millionaire — and she's agreed to marry him. But when Johnny plans a holiday for the two to enjoy life while they are still young, his fiancée has other plans & that is for Johnny to work in her father's bank!
Elsewhere
"George Cukor brings out the best from all the players."
— Variety Staff
All set to marry Julia Seton, who he met on vacation, self-made Johnny Case is taken by surprise by his fiancée’s wealthy banking family including Julia’s vivacious sister, Linda.
Katharine Hepburn, for all the reasons stated above, and for the way that after she entered the film, the romcom became completely unexpected, even for today’s standards.
In retrospect, going on vacation before the rest of the world entered war was actually a good idea.
The details
Who picked it
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
