Cast against type both Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly are excellent in Robert Siodmak's noirish romance "Christmas Holiday". She's an chanteuse in a New Orleans 'club' (for that read brothel) telling her story, (it's mostly in flashback), to soldier Dean Harens one stormy Christmas Eve. You see, she was married to good-for-nothing wastrel Kelly who's now in jail for murder. The fine supporting cast also includes Gale Sondergaard as Kelly's possessive mother, Gladys George as a big-hearted madam and the director Richard Whorf as a low-life reporter. Herman J Mankiewicz wrote the fine script from a novel by Somerset Maugham. Certainly not your usual Christmas fare and all the better for it.
Review of Christmas Holiday
