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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Musical Stars in Film Noir, October 5, 2007
Christmas Holiday is very different from the musical you would think Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly would make together. It is in a completely different genre. This film is definitely part of the film noir genre, a dark film told mostly in flashback by imperfect characters. The title comes from the man being told the story. A soldier is on leave and gets stranded going to San Francisco in Louisiana. There, he meets a nightclub singer named Jackie (Durbin), a seductive woman with many layers and a story to tell. She gets to talking to him and relays the story of her life. Her name is really Abigail; she changed it to escape her past. She is married to a murderer (Kelly), a man she still loves despite his crime.
Durbin is breathtakingly gorgeous here in a mature role that allows her to be emotional in a way that her breezy musicals never allowed. It makes one wonder why she never made more films like it. She does however sing a few songs, most notably the lovers theme, "Always." Kelly is also impressive as a complicated villain, a man one wants to protect, love, and yet fear all at the same time.
Unfortunately, this film is only available through bootlegged versions recorded from rare TV broadcasts. Hopefully, because of the star power involved, it will be released on DVD.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Musical Stars in Film Noir, October 17, 2006
Christmas Holiday is very different from the musical you would think Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly would make together. It is in a completely different genre. This film is definitely part of the film noir genre, a dark film told mostly in flashback by imperfect characters. The title comes from the man being told the story. A soldier is on leave and gets stranded going to San Francisco in Louisiana. There, he meets a nightclub singer named Jackie (Durbin), a seductive woman with many layers and a story to tell. She gets to talking to him and relays the story of her life. Her name is really Abigail; she changed it to escape her past. She is married to a murderer (Kelly), a man she still loves despite his crime.
Durbin is breathtakingly gorgeous here in a mature role that allows her to be emotional in a way that her breezy musicals never allowed. It makes one wonder why she never made more films like it. She does however sing a few songs, most notably the lovers theme, "Always." Kelly is also impressive as a complicated villain, a man one wants to protect, love, and yet fear all at the same time.
Unfortunately, this film is only available through bootlegged versions recorded from rare TV broadcasts. Hopefully, because of the star power involved, it will be released on DVD.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Christmas Holiday with Deanna Durbin & Gene Kelly, November 29, 2005
This is perhaps Deanna Durbin's finest acting in her brief career with Universal Studios. It is a film-noir with Deanna Durbin as a nightclub singer, married to a gambling murderer, Gene Kelly, pining her estrangement from her jailed husband. A young service man has just been jilted by his girlfriend as he is about to leave for a Christmas Holiday. He becomes entangled in the life of Deanna Durbin and witnesses the murder threat to Deanna from recently escaped Gene. This is not strictly speaking a musical, but some of Deanna Durbin's best known songs are from this film: Always; Spring Will be a Little Late This Year; etc.
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