One of my all-time favorite holiday movies is Holiday Inn (1942) with Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, and Virginia Dale. The 4 of them are absolutely delightful together, and I think I love just about every song in the movie. My family has owned the movie on VHS for years, but it's pretty worn out by now and last time I checked the old VCR only half works, so I've been meaning to look for Holiday Inn on dvd for years. Finally this year I am feeling enough in the Christmas spirit already to look for it, and I feel like I hit the jackpot. :D On Amazon, I found a 3-disc collector's edition which includes what is described as a "spotless" black and white edition, color edition (YAY!!!), aaaaaand a cd of the soundtrack. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. And of course I ended up doing the free super-saver shipping, so I have to wait 5-9 days for it to be sent out - but OH the anticipation. It's like Christmas is already here, I can't stand it, I feel all bouncy & antsy (or is that the coffee I just drank?). :)I've especially always loved Marjorie Reynolds as Linda Mason in Holiday Inn. She's just got that classic 40's beauty and plays the part so well. I guess I'm also intrigued because she seems to be so obscure - I don't think I've ever seen her in anything else. I was reading about her on IMDB, and it looks like she mostly appeared in B films after Holiday Inn, which kind of sucks. But here's some fun trivia - she was an extra in another one of my favorites, Gone With the Wind, as a guest at Twelve Oaks. I'll have to try to look for her next time I watch it!
And how cool is this! Holiday Inn paper dolls (reprinted) - I would LOVE to have this for my collection. I have some Vivien Leigh and Shirley Temple paper dolls I received as a kid too, and my mom was smart enough not to allow me to cut them out and play with them. I was just thinking I need to like vacuum seal them in plastic or something in order to try to keep them in tact.
Here are a few photos of Marjorie I found.
Here's Marjorie post-Holiday Inn era, in His Kind of Woman (1951) with Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, and Vincent Price. Sounds like a pretty heavy drama, maybe noir-ish, but it's neat to see her 10 years later.
So, in the spirit of helping me usher in this holiday season, I'd love to read your comments about your favorite holiday films & why you love them. Doesn't even have to be old, just classic. As for me, another one of my favorites is A Christmas Story, about Ralphie and his Red Rider BB gun. I just recently visited the restored house used in the film in Cleveland, Ohio, so I'll talk about it and post pics on my next post. It takes place in 1940, so it's almost classic.
