AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Tad Pole . . . about toy trains, check out the original version of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Released a couple years after HOLIDAY AFFAIR, the science fiction movie warmed the cockles of Great Depression Era hearts with its poignant scene showing an alien bonding with a little boy over a toy train set. On the other hand, HOLIDAY AFFAIR comes off more as a primer of what NOT to do with toy trains in a film. One key toy train no-no is to NOT break a tiny tyke's heart by messing with his mind over whether or not he's actually getting a toy train for his birthday, Christmas, Kwanzaa, the Fourth of July or some other occasion for gift-giving, as does HOLIDAY AFFAIR. Secondly, only someone with a screw loose would dream up equating a toy train giver with stranger-danger warnings against psychos with candy. Finally, if screenwriters are trying to figure out how to work a beloved toy train into their scripts, they definitely should NOT come up with a HOLIDAY AFFAIR scenario in which crowds of adults engulf the kid with a train, stomping on this prize possession and breaking it. Probably the only reason that HOLIDAY AFFAIR is not titled THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHR!STMAS is that Dr. Seuss already had dibs on what would have been a more appropriate description of this mean-spirited story.

Spikeopath Directed by Don Hartman and written by Isobel Lennart and John D. Weaver, Holiday Affair stars Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh and Wendell Corey. Story finds Leigh as Connie, a widower with a young son still trying to get over the death of her husband. Semi-courting the safe and reliable Carl (Corey), Connie's head is spun when she meets the more macho and up-front Steve (Mitchum). This is all she needs at Christmas time!A lovely Christmas Cracker of a movie, Holiday Affair never over eggs the eggnog with the love triangle axis beating at the core story. The spectre of grief is a prominent character here, where thankfully the writers have come up with a smart and respectful screenplay that's blessed with quality actors able to make the script have resonance.The seasonal staging is delightful, especially when involving a white coated Central Park. Comedy is also rife, none more so than during a court hearing sequence when Harry Morgan pops in to add his delightful wry skills. The wonder of toys and trees, of snow and ice, of families and love, all come together in a seasonal film that should be on every movie lovers list of Xmas films to see. 8/10

Errington_92 A heart felt story which perfectly blends romance, comedy and drama, Holiday Affair may have fallen off the radar in the annual surge of classic Christmas movies we are offered each December but by no means is it lesser in quality.Set in the midst of holiday chaos Connie Ennis spends her time supporting her son Timmy whilst holding back on marriage proposals from Carl, her long standing suitor. If that was not enough for Connie, she immediately set sparks flying with store clerk Steve which begins the rocky relationship they endure through out the film. So what does this situation have to do with Christmas? Holiday Affair serves to prove the festive season should be about happiness and dreams coming true for all.The quest for happiness in Holiday Affair is an emotionally complex web which applies to children and adults alike. From a children's point of view there is Timmy, full of the typical joy and wonder which surrounds children every Christmas. What he wants is the perfect present yet as Holiday Affair reaches its close, Timmy realises there are more important things than gifts. This is related and expanded further in the love triangle that commences between Connie, Carl and Steve. Still affected by the loss of her Husband during the War, Connie wants predictability in the form of Carl. Yet Steve makes Connie question the need for predictability, if she prefers happiness instead. It is a conundrum we can all relate to and Holiday Affair handles the concept with class and dignity.Of course Holiday Affair's class and dignity was partly due to the acting talent. Janet Leigh added a delightful energy as a loving Mother and partner whose sheer presence made it understandable why two men were competing for her love whilst equally proving herself to be a damaged soul in Holiday Affair's more dramatic scenes. Robert Mitchum, although outside his usual territory of moody film noirs and action features, certainly held his own as the genuine nice guy who made a huge impression on Connie, Timmy and this spectator alike. Finally there was Wendell Corey, whose brought some sympathy to his character desperately holding onto his relationship with Connie whilst engaging in a love rivalry with Steve which had many moments of comical conflict.To briefly conclude Holiday Affair holds enough charm and entertainment to be a bigger Christmas feature than its current minority status. It certainly is worth a view if you're seeking alternatives from the overexposed classics guaranteed to be screened this year.

robert-temple-1 This is very much a 'film of its time', but it was designed to be precisely that. It dealt with one of the major social issues of the immediate postwar years, the problems of the grieving young women whose husbands had been killed in the War. The main character in this film is just such a pretty young war widow, played by Janet Leigh. She keeps framed photos of her husband in uniform all round her apartment and beside her bed, and can't let him go. Her little boy Guy is turned into what she calls 'the man of the house'. She cannot come to terms with her loss or make a new life for herself, despite the fact that three or four years have gone by. America was full of women in her condition at this time, women who had been deeply in love with their husbands, lost them in combat, and were then expected to find a new man. Janet Leigh just can't do that. A boring and 'stable' admirer, played by Wendell Corey, has been patiently courting her for two years and keeps telling her that friendship is enough for a marriage and she doesn't need to love him. She is gradually bringing herself round to accept this kind of a future and even says yes to him at last, convincing herself that it will give her 'a quiet life' and a father for her boy (who does not like Corey and keeps insulting him). This film was given a misleading title, because there is no 'affair' and the 'holiday' refers merely to the fact that it is Christmas time. However, this is not, as some imagine, just 'a good Christmas film'. Christmas is merely the convenient background for the story. The story is really about Janet Leigh's struggle to come to terms with her loss. Through an amusing, if somewhat hectic, series of circumstances, Leigh meets Robert Mitchum. He is working in a New York City department store selling toy trains and she is a 'comparison shopper' working for a rival department store. She goes around buying things, taking them to her employer for study, and then returning them and getting a refund. Mitchum discovers this and is about to turn her in, but when he hears she is a war widow with a child, he takes pity on her and lets her go. This is spotted by the floorwalker, and Mitchum is instantly fired. Then a highly complex relationship develops, involving the boy, a train set, various misunderstandings and comic coincidences, and Fate, which obviously had it in mind all along, brings them closer and closer together. This gets up the nose of Corey, who takes it very badly indeed. Little Guy adores Mitchum, and the story is really very ingenious and amusing, as to how things go on from there. I can't reveal what happens in the end, but you could say Leigh is really on the spot and struggles between boring safety and passionate uncertainty. Mitchum proposes too, and which one will she, can she, choose? This film would have gone straight to the heart for many thousands, probably tens of thousands, of young American widows in her position at that time. As social history it is very important. The film is very sensitively done and must have been a big hit when it came out. It is entertaining to watch, has many amusing moments, and excellent performances.