Holiday for Lovers (1959)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Henry Levin

Writers:

Ronald Alexander (play)
Luther Davis (writer)

Release Date:

7 September 1959 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

It's a holiday of JOY! A holiday of FUN!

Plot Keywords:

Holiday | Beautiful Woman | Based On Play

Cast

Clifton Webb	...	Robert Dean
Jane Wyman	...	Mrs. Mary Dean
Jill St. John	...	Meg Dean
Carol Lynley	...	Betsy Dean
Paul Henreid	...	Eduardo Barroso
Gary Crosby	...	Tech Sgt. Paul Gattling
Nico Minardos	...	Carlos Barroso
Wally Brown	...	Joe McDougal
Henny Backus	...	Connie McDougal
Nora O'Mahoney	...	Mrs. Murphy
Buck Class	...	Staff Sergeant
Alan Austin	...	Technical Sergeant
Nestor Amaral	...	Himself, Orchestra Leader
José Greco	...	Himself, Dancer

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Lima, Peru

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Gene Tierney was to star but dropped out due to her emotional problems.

Sao Paulo, Rio, Lima, Trinidad - all without leaving Hollywood!

This is a fun little film featuring Clifton Webb and Jane Wyman as parents who chase their 2 daughters through South America as the young women find love. Webb is wonderful as always and his drunk scene is a classic. Wyman isn't given much to do but calm her exasperated spouse but Carol Lynley is impressive as the younger daughter (although her choice of chubby Gary Crosby as lover is a bit hard to understand). Jill St John is awfully wet as the older daughter - you could never believe she was an accomplished sculptor. But as her lover Nico Minardos is very funny and very sexy - as a "Brazilian beatnik". Paul Henreid is suave as his father.

There are some funny scenes - the strip search is good - and dialogue and there is great music, including a fabulous flamenco dance sequence with Jose Greco. But why oh why didn't they take the actors on location? The production is a high budget cinemascope movie so why not spend that little bit more? Instead we get lots of second unit travelogue type footage of Sao Paulo, Rio, Lima and Trinidad and the actors standing in front of obvious rear projections. This almost ruins the film.