Christmas Holiday (1944)

 “He needed your strength. That’s why I let him marry you, but all you gave back was his own weakness.”

Every Christmas, I make a point of watching a Christmas film, and this year’s choice was the 1944 film Christmas Holiday. Starring Gene Kelly, Deanna Durbin and Dean Harens, the film doesn’t have much of a Christmas feel, and instead the fact that the story takes place at Christmas time is a device to throw the film’s characters together.

When the film begins. Lt. Charles Mason (Dean Harens) is about to go on leave. He has a flight booked to San Francisco, and here while on leave he plans to wed his fiancee. Just as he’s about to leave for the airport, he gets a telegram from his fiancee breaking the news that she’s married another man. Mason’s friends try to persuade him to join them over Christmas, but he is determined to fly to San Francisco and win back his girl. He has no clear plan in mind, but he won’t listen to reason. His flight, however, is forced to land in New Orleans due to bad weather conditions.

Once in a lonely hotel on Christmas Eve Mason strikes up an acquaintance with a pushy reporter, Simon Fenimore (Richard Whorf). Simon persuades Mason to accompany him to a house of ill repute located outside of town. Mason agrees and here he meets singer Jackie Lamont (Deanna Durbin).

The film’s premise is basically that strangers are thrown together by circumstance, and due to the unusual situation, Mason and Jackie confide in each other. Jackie (whose real now is Abigail Martin) tells Mason a tragic tale of love–she is married to Robert Manette (Gene Kelly) a handsome, unreliable and violent man. As Mason and Jackie exchange stories, Mason questions Jackie’s unconditional love, and through Jackie’s story Mason comes to realize the foolishness of chasing his ex-fiancee.

Deanna Durbin is quite magnificent in this role, and for fans while she acts her heart out here, she also sings a couple of great songs–including two very different renditions of Always. Her role runs the gamut from young, innocent and naive girl in the rosy optimism of first love to disillusioned woman. She tells her story to Mason in flashbacks, and Durbin delivers an emotional performance as she rells how she gradually came to realize that her husband was a criminal. Gene Kelly may hang up his dancing shoes for this role (he almost dances with Durbin at one point), but he’s still terrific as the charmingly insincere Manette–a man whose mother can only cover up so many mistakes. Gale Sondergaard plays Manette’s mother, and while the plot doesn’t spend a great deal of time on this mother-son psychotic relationship, there are just enough details–just enough hints to get the point of this nasty relationship. And what a great touch it is to make Gene Kelly wear a bowtie. This small detail gives the perfect touch to his slippery character

Christmas Holiday is based on a W. Somerset Maugham novel and Robert Siodmak directs the film. The Maugham novel focuses on a prostitute, but that idea is absent for the film. While Jackie works in what appears to be a bordello, the script makes it clear that she’s not for sale. Maugham and Siodmak, combined with the star power, make for a lot of talent, and this noir film is only marred by an overly long scene of a mass at church.

That Certain Woman (1937)

 “Nobody belongs to anyone.”

Grab your hankies for That Certain Woman–an unashamedly exploitive tearjerker that follows the trials and tribulations of a woman who can’t leave her past behind. When the film begins, Mary Donnell (Bette Davis) works for married lawyer Lloyd Rogers (Ian Hunter). Mary has a notorious past. She married a gangster at age 16, but he was killed a few years later. Although she changed her name, her past still crops up–usually in the form of annoying reporters who want to write a “where-is-she-now” piece. Mary’s boss is in love with her, but he seems to accept that he’s unhappily married to someone else and contents himself with keeping Mary as his efficient secretary.

Jack Merrick (Henry Fonda)–the wastrel son of a domineering, wealthy father (Donald Crisp) returns from Paris, with the intention of marrying Mary. Mary and Jack sneak off to get married, but Jack’s irate self-righteous father interrupts the newlyweds on their wedding night. Much to Mary’s disgust, Jack doesn’t stand up to his father’s demand that they annul the marriage. Disheartened, Mary leaves. The marriage is annulled, Jack goes off to France, and Mary gives birth to a child.

In many ways, this is an old familiar story of a decent woman who makes a mistake early in her life and isn’t allowed to live it down. In That Certain Woman, the plot dives into soap opera territory repeatedly, and exploits every possible cliched plot twist along the way. All the characters seem to strive for sainthood, and in some scenes, one can almost catch a whiff of burning martyr. The film doesn’t offer Bette Davis much in the way of a role–she’s primarily the victim throughout the whole film, and what she sees in the spineless Jack really isn’t clear. In the beginning of the film, Bette Davis is cast as deliberately dowdy–although she spruces up a bit around the half way mark, and she’s only allowed to show her claws in one scene when she wallops someone with her mink stole.

From director Edmund Goulding, the film is well acted, but it’s still a poor vehicle for Bette Davis’s acting ability. Davis fans (me) will want to watch it as they won’t be able to help themselves, and it’s always great to see her in any film.