Vacances payées

A hit Broadway play, adapted by the playwright (and later turned into a hit musical); what more could you ask for? Well, for starters, you could ask that the premise, a love story set at the very predominantly Jewish summer camps that thrived in the Catskills from the 1920s into the 1970s, not have virtually every trace of Jewishness removed from it. We have one Jewish waiter here, and possibly a couple of older Jewish campers, and from there it's on to Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Peggy Conklin, Lucille Ball, Lee Bowman, Eve Arden, and a very young, very annoying Red Skelton, whose two extended comedy routines land with a thud. That Rogers would even be living with her large family in that section of the Bronx strains credibility. They're pretty people, the summer-camp setting is pretty and convincing, and for a post-Code item, it's pretty frank about the sleeping-around that's going on, or at least suspected. Lucille, being built up by RKO, has some funny moments, and Eve, playing the "intellectual" camper (we can tell she's intellectual because she wears glasses), makes a great deal out of little. At a little over an hour, it speeds by, and Rogers, playing a not-very-nice heroine, at least is photographed lovingly. But the goy-izing of it kind of deprives it of any point.

The original movie script was about a Jewish girl on holiday in the Catskills. They put Ginger Rodgers in it and changed it around a bit. This is a cute and funny movie. Nothing major, just a nice little movie about a working girl away for some R&R and ending up falling in love. Her love interest is Douglas Fairbanks Jr, who is a babe, and very funny in his own right. They both meet at camp and instantly dislike one another. He is working there as a waiter/camp counselor/gigolo (see Patrick Swayze's part in Dirty Dancing) to earn money to pay for school. From the first moment they meet, you can tell that even through all the fighting and cutdowns they really like one another. Neither of them has the courage to say how they really feel to the other. Of course finally they do and it all happens naturally. You believe this movie and the characters in it. To me that means a good movie. Thank goodness I taped it off AMC. This movie includes alot of talents, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, to include a few. You can't get alot of Ginger's non-musical films on VHS or DVD. This ticks me off people.

PS...If you like to see more of Ginger Rodgers non-musical greats, check out Tom, Dick and Harry, Kitty Foyle, and the classic Stage Door.

This is a great timeless romantic story. Hollywood should remake this movie! One interesting point, is that the movie ends abruptly at the camp and many of the "dating" themes should have been more deeply explored in the script.

That said, a star studded cast of 1938 with many of the great stars in their early part of their careers. A wonderful, heart warming moving about falling in love.

Not much of a story or script but Rogers and Fairbanks make a good romantic couple. Supporting cast with Eve Arden, Lucy, Jack Carson, and others do a good job with slight material. If you like Red Skelton he does several of his skits. Ginger does her good girl thing which is standard for her. Fairbanks is good too but the film as a whole is pretty weak. This film was a vehicle for the stars.

If the pleasure of watching GINGER ROGERS, DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR. and LEE BOWMAN in their prime is enough for you, you won't mind watching this feeble little comedy about a vacationing girl in a typical girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl wins boy kind of affair.

And whatever laughs come along are few and far between, as someone else suggested, and the gags aren't fresh enough to sustain much interest. The backgammon scene becomes a bore, as does the party scene with "Heigh Ho" being sung non-stop in inebriated fashion.

Strictly a small time trifle, hardly worth bothering about. No one is seen to their advantage except for the three photogenic leads in a cast that includes EVE ARDEN (wasted), LUCILLE BALL (wasted), JACK Carson (wasted), DONALD COOK and GRADY SUTTON, with an interesting debut of comedian RED SKELTON, billed as Richard (Red) Skelton) who demonstrates his skill with a series of pratfalls. He does more with his small role than anyone else is able to muster.

The original play was a satire about Jewish vacationers in the Catskills but was revamped as a vehicle for Ginger Rogers with all the Jewish jokes removed. What's left is a weak comedy with nowhere to go.

Summing up: The title is a misnomer. It's hardly worth anyone's time but it's pleasing to note that LEE BOWMAN's reaction shots reveal a flair for comedy never fully realized throughout his film career.