Holiday

The 1938 remake benefits from a more assured production and, of course, Cukor's direction. And the two are surprisingly close: Whole swatches of dialog from 1930 are lifted more or less bodily (the 1930 version, most likely, did the same with the stage dialog). And it's a rather stagy early talkie, trying, but not very hard, to move the action around and make it more cinematic. What the early version does have is Ann Harding. She's so lovely, and her playing has, I don't know, a stillness, a contemplation to it; she seems to think very hard about what to say before she says it. It lends a certain gravitas to what is already a fairly serious comedy dealing with rather large issues--how to live one's life, and how one's choices affect those around one. Mary Astor is also miles beyond Doris Nolan, creating a multifaceted, complicated character out of what could come across as just a selfish sister. Robert Ames hasn't Cary Grant's polished comedy playing or looks, but he's credible, and Edward Everett Horton is delightful in the same part he played in 1938. It's a mellow, thoughtful movie, marred but hardly ruined by the primitive movie-making. And we're very lucky to have Ann Harding's Oscar-nominated Linda Seton preserved.

Repertory and community theatres are ofttimes training grounds for future film actors and actresses. Connecticut-born and raised Katherine Hepburn learned the stagecraft in her state's small theatres. Ann Harding, an Academy Awards Best Actress nominee, found her "home theater" at the Hedgerow Theater just outside of Philadelphia, and returned there and other small live venues in the Pittsburgh area repeatedly to retain her acting skills.

A number of threads tie Hepburn to Harding in more ways than to perform in front of live audiences. Harding, marking her movie debut in 1929's 'Paris Bound' with actor Fredric March, played Linda Seton in July 1930's "Holiday." She's the freewheeling sister, Linda, to Julie (Mary Astor), who's fiancee, Johnny Case (Robert Ames) is brought to the family's palatial mansion to introduce him to her father, Edward (William Holden-not the more famous younger actor). Linda is attracted to Johnny because he's not the materialistic opportunist that runs deep in her family. Wealthy in his own right by wheeling and dealing in the stock market (this was right before the Market Crash in late 1929), Johnny wants to experience the world before settling down to a permanent job.

If this plot sounds familiar, Hepburn played Linda in the more famous 1938 version of "Holiday," opposite Cary Grant. The movie was based on the 1928 Broadway play by Phillip Barry. The understudy for actress Hope Williams, who played Linda on the stage, was none other than Katherine Hepburn. Playwright Barry became good friends with Hepburn when she was part of the acting troupe. When the actress was labeled 'box office poison' in the late 1930s and was unable to secure good movie roles, Barry came to the rescue and composed "The Philadelphia Story," written specifically for Hepburn.

Harding's Academy Award nomination boasted her career in film. She was very busy until she met and married in 1937 musical composer Werner Janssen, a six-time Academy Award nominee. The actress claims Werner was a controlling husband who discouraged her from the Hollywood scene. Harding picked up her movie appearances in 1942, and later concentrated on television roles up until the mid-1960s with spot parts in 'Dr. Kildare' and 'Ben Casey.' Another Hepburn link to Harding and the movie "Holiday" was Robert Ames, who played Johnny. The Hartford, Connecticut, born and raised silent movie actor from the early 1920s, he seemed to be successful in making the transition to talkies. But he was under tremendous strain in his love relationships. A lawsuit by his nightclub entertainer mistress for $200,000 alleged the actor promised to marry her after his 1930 divorce to socialite Muriel Oakes. A heavy drinker, Ames was under a doctor's medication to help him alleviate his withdrawal from alcohol. While on a Thanksgiving break in New York City with his family, he died at the Hotel Delmonico. The cause of death at 42 years of age was an acute reaction of abstaining from alcohol. He's buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut, the same cemetery as Katherine Hepburn is buried with her family.

A young man finds that his free-spirited nature is at odds with the more serious attitudes of his fiancé and most of her wealthy family. An early version of the more famous 1938 adaptation of Philip Barry's stage play which featured box office heavyweights Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in the roles taken here by lesser lights Ann Harding and Robert Ames. Harding is very good, but Ames is too bland for a role that calls for a big personality. It's all very dated, but quite engaging nevertheless. Rather bizarrely, three of the four lead males in this movie would be dead before the '38 version hit screens just eight years later

This first version of Holiday works much better than the 1938 version, because Harding plays Linda Seton, the lead character, as it was written by Phillip Barry.

Hepburn's performance in the remake fails to portray the insecurity, selflessness, and guilt of Linda.

Hepburn's natural brash self-confidence and surface smoothness are at odds with the personality and actions of Linda.

Hepburn also fails to portray the intense feeling of passionate love that Linda is supposed to be feeling for her sister's fiance.

Ann Harding, however, beautifully captures and portrays all of that, and as a result, this 1930 movie makes sense, because we understand Linda and her struggle.

In the 1938 remake, the plot and Linda's actions all have a disjointed illogical flow, because Hepburn hasn't captured the personality of Linda, and hasn't portrayed the motivations passion and guilt Linda is going through.

The Oscar nomination that Ann received, and the box office hit status that the first version achieved, confirm the superiority of Harding and the first version.

The 1938 remake flopped and received no Oscar nominations.

Some other reviews here claim that Harding imitated Hepburn, which is amusing since Harding version was filmed 8 years earlier, and also bc Hepburn is infamous for stealing from other actors, including Harding and ofc. Cary Grant.

Mary Astor also gives a fine performance playing Linda's sister.

First off, as other reviewers have observed, I totally disagree that Ann Harding sounds like Katharine Hepburn, who played Linda Seton in the remake, and who also understudied the actress in the original stage play.

Harding has a more refined smooth voice whereas Hepburn has her usual clipped, brash New England accent. Were these reviewers really listening?

Additionally, the pert and poised Mary Astor also outshines the actress who played the subsequent Julia. Astor and Harding truly seem like sisters whereas Hepburn and the other actress have no chemistry as the Seton sisters.

Finally, one of my favorite character actors, the adorable Edward Everett Horton, originated and later reprised Nick Potter in the remake. He also narrated the Fractured Fairy Tales segments in the popular Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon series in the late 50's and early 60's.

I will say that I prefer Cary Grant (in the remake) as Robert Ames lacked Grant's charm and was a little too milquetoast. Plus he looked shorter than Mary Astor in most of the original!

One more thing that I noticed in this and other movies of that era, what is with the pronunciation of "at all" as "at tall?" I recall Walter Pigeon pronouncing it like that and others that I cannot recall at this time. I find it annoying.

See both movies and compare for yourselves.