Holiday Affair (1949)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Don Hartman

Writers:

Isobel Lennart (screenplay)
John D. Weaver (story)

Release Date:

24 December 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

It happened in December...but its hotter than July !

Plot:

The Christmas-season romance of a young widow and a sales clerk who (thanks to her) is unemployed.

Plot Keywords:

Widow | Christmas | Department Store | Single Mother | Mother Son Relationship

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Steve Mason
Janet Leigh	...	Connie Ennis
Wendell Corey	...	Carl Davis
Gordon Gebert	...	Timmy Ennis
Griff Barnett	...	Mr. Ennis
Esther Dale	...	Mrs. Ennis
Henry O'Neill	...	Mr. Crowley
Harry Morgan	...	Police lieutenant (as Henry Morgan)
Larry J. Blake	...	Plainclothesman
Helen Brown	...	Emily (Mr. Crowley's secretary)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:U | USA:Approved

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Quotes:

Steve Mason: Carl isn't the real threat to me. Maybe I'm not to him. This isn't two fellows and a girl, you know. This is two fellows, a girl and her husband. I can't fight a shadow - I tried - competition's too tough. You were even going to play it safe and settle for someone you didn't love so you wouldn't be unfaithful to your husband.
Connie Ennis: Oh, you're always so wrong about me. I have a wonderful memory of a husband and a marriage. You're trying to take it away from me.
Steve Mason: Nobody wants to do that. I know. I'm sure Carl doesn't. All anybody wants is for you to live in the present and not be afraid of the future. You know, maybe it could happen again if you quit pretending that something that's dead is still alive.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Remade as Holiday Affair (1996) (TV)

sweet little Christmas romance

Janet Leigh, playing a young war widow with a small child, meets Robert Mitchum in a department store - where he contributes to her losing her job. From then on he's on the chase to get Leigh away from her nice but boring boyfriend (played with a bit more life than usual by Wendell Corey).

Through this admittedly thin plot, there are lots of opportunities for Mitchum to be both charming and irritating, and long before the end you can see where Leigh is going to be by the end. But as a Christmas movie, with the atmosphere and the sheer class of Mitchum and Leigh, this really is a pearl and not to be missed.