Highly Overrated But Still Good

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

I have watched Holiday Inn a couple of times. After the first viewing it was difficult to get through it due to the gagging and wanting to throw up. I see reviews knocking White Christmas (1954) as a bad copycat of Holiday Inn. Well, if White Christmas is a copycat, it shines so far above Holiday Inn that it is a CopyTiger, CopyLion, CopyLeopard. It is my opinion that while Fred Astaire can sing, he can not act his way into or out of a mud puddle. The chemistry between Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas is beyond the Best. I find absolutely no chemistry in Holiday Inn. I watch White Christmas several times every year as the movie brings me great Joy~!~!~!~!~!~! Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen are fabulous icing on the cake in White Christmas. They enhance the chemistry between all of the characters magnificently. I have thought about writing this review for several years.

Holiday Inn crosses my mind at least once during every major holiday, and even some of the more minor ones as well. In fact, it's the first thing that pops into my head on Washington's birthday, (even though they call that President's Day now).It's a great musical that uses the talents of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire to the fullest, as Bing Crosby tries to run an inn that's only open on holidays. Fred Astaire plays his romantic rival, as they both try to romance Marjorie Reynolds. There's terrific chemistry between the two stars and the other players as well. The songs are great. This movie took an Oscar for White Christmas, and that song has remained a standard to this day. If you've never seen it, make a point to watch it when it pops up around Christmastime. It's wartime Hollywood at its creative peak. If you wonder why they can't make them like this anymore, this movie will show you why there's no substitute for the talent of Crosby, Astaire, Berlin and the rest of the folks behind this movie and the other classics of the 1940s.

This 1942 Paramount movie is wonderful for Christmas, though it acknowledges all the main holidays of the year. In this story an accomplished singer (Crosby) opens an inn in Connecticut, not all too far from NYC, which is open only, again, on the main holidays, such as New Year's Day, Lincoln's Birthday, Washington's Birthday, Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and last but not least, Christmas. In the movie, Fred Astaire and Virginia Dale make for a great dancing team, and there is sparkling chemistry between Bing Crosby and the very pretty and adorable Marjorie Reynolds; the latter portrays a young lady anxious to go to Hollywood. To adumbrate a lot, Astaire comes to the inn after his fiancé, (Dale) instead of marrying Astaire goes to meet someone in Texas about whom she hears is rich. Astaire meets the girl anxious to go to Hollywood, and he falls in love with her. (Personally, I can't blame him.) It doesn't matter to Astaire that the young girl had once talked to the singer about marrying her, though nothing is set. The comedy enters when Crosby does anything he can to get her away from the dancer, including a change of rhythm in music during the Washington's Birthday dance sequence. At the same time he tries to get her away from two Hollywood scouts by having his employee Gus drive her into the water. While the story is slightly heart-breaking in one place, it does have a good resolve. Who will end up with whom? I'll give nothing away here. But it is a wonderful, heart-warming story. One of my favorites. And needless to say, the songs by Irving Berlin are drawing, such as "Abraham", "Easter Parade", and, of course, last but not least, "White Christmas", just to mention a few. The songs as well as the story make the movie.movie.

This film just has so many flaws. Aside from "White Christmas," the music isn't even that good; it's like the Irving Berlin junk drawer. All of the main characters are completely unlikable. The story's misogyny is only balanced by its misandry. You can't really "root" for anyone to get their way, because you want them all to get some sense smacked into them.The only character who exhibits good sense is the jaw-droppingly stereotypical maid, Mamie. In fact, everything related to race is horrifyingly cringe-worthy to modern audiences. In a better movie, perhaps that could have been forgiven as an unfortunate aspect of life in that era. But here, it's the final nail in the coffin.The film's only saving grace -- the only reason it gets a 2 rating from me instead of 1 -- is that you still get to hear Bing Crosby sing, and watch Fred Astaire dance with Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale. If only they were singing and dancing to better songs in a better movie...