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Want to watch a movie that leaves you feeling happy? Well, that’s just what Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn will make you feel after you watch it. This 1940 ’s musical features two legendary stars, singer Bing Crosby and dancing man Fred Astaire. Jim (Bing Crosby) and his friend Ted (Fred Astaire) are a singer and dancer team. Jim is going to marry a woman (actress Virginia Dale), but what Jim doesn’t know is that Ted also loves his fiancée. She loves Ted too, and tells Jim that the marriage is off and that she will marry Ted. Sadly, things don’t work out, for both men, when Jim’s ex- fiancée and Ted’s future wife, leave them both in the dust and marries a Texas millionaire. Jim had plans for the two of them to live peacefully on a country farm. So, retiring from city life, he travels there by himself, learning the craft of being a farmer. Jim now thinks up a new idea for the farm, to make it an inn, but it would be different, only open holidays. Naturally, he calls it the Holiday Inn. Every holiday he has elaborate shows and dinners. There would be a band and some talent to entertain. He runs into an eager young blonde who jumps at the chance for an exciting new career. Now here is a musical you don’t want to miss. This is the movie that1 first let the public hear the now classic " White Christmas", sung by none other then Bing Crosby (Jim). The musical numbers are extravagant and the music is so catchy you’ll find yourself humming the tunes all day. Fred Astaire (Ted) is fun and lively, and his dancing is well done and entertaining. One offensive part in this film is how black culture is displayed. During a musical number celebrating Abraham Lincoln, the musicians and singers put on black face paint and ragged clothes. The make-up didn’t represent the African Americans well at all! You’d think that one hundred years after Lincoln freed the slaves in the late 1800’s, that in the 1940’s we would have showed them more respect. Also, the maid Jim had was named Mame, who happened to be black. Mame was not treated fairly when she worked as a maid and cook. For instance, Jim was eating Thanksgiving dinner alone, which Mame had prepared for him. He didn’t even have the courtesy to invite her to dine with him! I think it’s outrageous that Mame wasn’t allowed to eat with him. Even Mame’s kids (who are just irresistibly cute) were uninvited to eat outside their hot kitchen. But, like many of the films made in the day, Mame didn’t complain and did her duties cheerfully, seeming not to know how unfair her life really was For the most part this film is a cheery, get up and dance movie that children and adults can enjoy a like.  |
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