Irving Berlin's: Holiday Inn

UPC: 025192148422

Studio: Universal Studios

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Suitable for Children]

Summary: Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire star in Holiday Inn as a popular nightclub song-and-dance team. When his heart is broken by his girlfriend, Crosby decides to retire from the hustle-bustle of big city showbiz. He purchases a rustic New England farm and converts it to an inn, which he opens to the public (floor show and all) only on holidays. This barely logical plot device allows ample space for a steady flow of Irving Berlin holiday songs (including an incredible blackface number in honor of Lincoln's Birthday). Oddly enough, the most memorable song in the bunch, the Oscar-winning White Christmas, is not offered as a production number but as a simple ballad sung by Crosby to an audience of one: leading lady Marjorie Reynolds. Fred Astaire's best moment is his Fourth of July firecracker dance. Ah, but what about the plot? Well, it seems that Astaire wants to make a film about Crosby's inn, starring their mutual discovery Reynolds. Bing briefly loses Reynolds to Astaire, but wins her back during the filming of a musical number on a Hollywood soundstage (eleven years earlier, Bing enjoyed a final clinch with Marion Davies under surprisingly similar conditions in Going Hollywood). As with most of Irving Berlin's "portfolio" musicals of the 1940s, the song highlights of Holiday Inn are too numerous to mention. This delightful film is far superior to its unofficial 1954 remake, White Christmas. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Comedy

Awards: Best Score - Musical – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Song – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Story – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Features: A couple of song and dance men
An intimate retrospective of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire on interview with Ava Astaire-McKenzie
All singing - All dancing
Experience the making of the unforgettable song and dance numbers of Holiday Inn

Audio commentary
Feature length audio commentary by film historian Ken Barnes with archive audio comments by Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and John Scott Trotter

Original theatrical trailer

Irving Berlin's: Holiday Inn

Format: DVD

Release Date: 10/10/2006

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DDM2.0 Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Runtime: 101 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Irving Berlin's: Holiday Inn
1. Love Triangle (Main Titles) [4:39]
2. "I'll Capture Your Heart Singing" [5:43]
3. "Lazy" [8:26]
4. "You're Easy to Dance With" [3:40]
5. "White Christmas" [6:18]
6. "Happy Holiday/Holiday Inn" [3:09]
7. Let's Start the New Year Right" [6:19]
8. A New Partner [3:29]
9. In Disguise [3:30]
10. "Abraham" [5:46]
11. "Be Careful, It's My Heart" [6:38]
12. "I Can't Tell a Lie" [6:38]
13. "Easter Parade" [3:42]
14. "Song of Freedom" [3:11]
15. "Let's Say It With Firecrackers" [7:49]
16. "Plenty to Be Thankful For" [6:24]
17. Lights, Camera, Action [4:52]
18. Happy New Year (End Titles) [8:06]

Richard Gilliam

Holiday Inn has one of the more ludicrous plots in a 1940s musical, but the Irving Berlin songs are first-rate, and it's tough to beat Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire for music-and-dance star power. Berlin is perhaps the film's real headliner: his White Christmas and Easter Parade would become cultural standards, and each song would inspire its own eponymous motion picture. Though the production numbers don't quite match the splendor of say, Busby Berkeley's, most are well-staged. The film's best moment is its simplest -- Crosby singing White Christmas sans accompaniment. Berlin won a songwriting Oscar for White Christmas, and the film was also nominated for Best Original Story. ~ Richard Gilliam, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Louise LaPlanche  Actor 
James Bell  Actor 
Oscar G. Hendrian  Actor 
Bob Locke Lorraine  Actor 
Edward Arnold, Jr.  Actor 
Bud Jamison  Actor 
Harry Barris  Actor 
Irving Bacon  Actor 
June Ealey  Actor 
Lora Lee Michel  Actor 
John Gallaudet  Actor 
Reed Porter  Actor 
Laurie Douglas  Actor 
Karin [Katharine] Booth  Actor 
Robert E. Homans  Actor 
Leon Belasco  Actor 
Lynda Grey  Actor 
David Tihmar  Actor 
Ronnie Rondell  Actor 
Kitty Kelly  Actor 
Barbara Slater  Actor 
Irving Berlin  Composer (Music Score) 
Claude Binyon  Screenwriter 
Robert Emmett Dolan  Composer (Music Score) 
Mark Sandrich  Director 
Mark Sandrich  Producer 
Elmer Rice  Screenwriter 
Bing Crosby  Actor 
Fred Astaire  Actor 
Virginia Dale  Actor 
Marjorie Reynolds  Actor 
Walter Abel  Actor 
Louise Beavers  Actor 
Marek Windheim  Actor 
Jacques Vanaire  Actor 
Judith Gibson  Actor 
Shelby Bacon  Actor 
Joan Arnold  Actor 

Country: USA