IMDb > Knickerbocker Holiday (1944)

Knickerbocker Holiday (1944) More at IMDbPro »

IMDb Holiday Movie Guide

Overview

User Rating:
5.5/10   43 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 10% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Harry Joe Brown
Writers:
Maxwell Anderson (play)
David Boehm (writer)
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Knickerbocker Holiday on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
17 March 1944 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | History | Musical more
Plot:
It's 1650 in New Amsterdam, and Brom Broeck, a young outspoken newspaper publisher is arrested for printing... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. more
User Comments:
Little Old New Amsterdam more (3 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Nelson Eddy ... Brom Broeck
Charles Coburn ... Peter Stuyvesant
Constance Dowling ... Tina Tienhoven
Ernest Cossart ... Tienhoven

Shelley Winters ... Ulda Tienhoven (as Shelley Winter)
Johnnie Davis ... Tenpin (as Johnny 'Scat' Davis)
Percy Kilbride ... Schermerhorn the jailer

Otto Kruger ... Roosevelt
Fritz Feld ... Poffenburgh

Richard Hale ... Tammany
Carmen Amaya ... Gypsy dancer
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
85 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)
Company:
Producers Corporation of America more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Although most of the stage musical's songs were omitted from the film, "September Song" did make it into the film, and the original lyrics of the song (referring to Peter Stuyvesant's wooden leg) were used, rather than the more familiar ones sung by most popular and nightclub singers. more
Movie Connections:
Version of "Pulitzer Prize Playhouse: Knickerbocker Holiday (#1.7)" (1950) more
Soundtrack:
Jail Song (Oh Woe!) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful.
Little Old New Amsterdam, 5 November 2007
6/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Knickerbocker Holiday was one of three feature films Nelson Eddy starred in after leaving MGM after his last starring role with Jeanette MacDonald in I Married An Angel. His first film was the highly successful Phantom of the Opera, the third was a disastrous original musical for Republic, Northwest Outpost. Falling somewhere in the middle was Knickerbocker Holiday.

It's not that it's a bad film, but nearly all the Kurt Weill-Maxwell Anderson score is eliminated and a whole lot of the biting satire in the book. Knickerbocker Holiday ran for 168 performances on Broadway during the 1938-1939 season and starred Walter Huston as Peter Stuyvesant, the famous one legged colonial governor of New Amsterdam, the last one before the British took over the colonies.

Walter Huston's famous talk/sing version of the immortal September Song is world famous. Why they didn't get Huston for the screen is a mystery, but why Charles Coburn as Stuyvesant tried to actually sing the song is frightening. Coburn was decidedly not blessed with a singing voice and he really looks bad next to Nelson Eddy. Coburn can best be described as bellowing the immortal ballad.

Eddy took the role of the young firebrand Brom Broeck, a part not unlike the one he did at MGM in Let Freedom Ring. He doesn't get to sing the immortal September Song. His songs are quite forgettable and most of them were written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn who certainly have a lot better work to their credit. In fact a ballad entitled It Never Was You was Brom Broeck's big number on stage and that was eliminated. I commend a recording that Judy Garland made of it for Capitol records in the fifties. She sang it also in I Could Go On Singing.

Playing Eddy's love interest is Constance Dowling who sings nice and who Coburn is also on the prowl for. In fact the September Song is his way of wooing her by saying he's not getting any younger. Her younger sister is Shelley Winters in one of her first screen roles. I also liked Ernest Cossart as their greedy father and Percy Kilbride as the timid jailer of New Amsterdam.

Sad to say for all involved it was a nice effort, but a lot of improvement could have made this a classic.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (3 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Knickerbocker Holiday (1944)

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
Call Northside 777 Chicago Unmasked Laughing at Trouble Girl Crazy
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
News articles IMDb Comedy section IMDb USA section
Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.