Pluskylang
Great Film overall
Ava-Grace Willis
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Ginger
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
carving-1
Stellar performances by Nancy Carroll and Phillips Holmes as well as supporting actors and you are in for a real treat if you like human drama. The directing by Edmund Goulding is able to achieve the right conclusion and you can see that a lot of effort was put into this movie which was produced in 1930, a time when talkies have been out for only a few years. Edmund Goulding also wrote the screenplay for the movie. This movie has substance. There is character development by several characters and spiritual overtones. What is greater than being selfish and "bad" and admitting it? With inimitable virtuosity, Nancy Carroll is able to traverse this course of human change. She incidentally was nominated for an Oscar in 1930 for this movie. Phillips Holmes is able to play his difficult part to the hilt as a naive and sweet character hopelessly in love. Actually, these two are magic together as can be seen in the movies Stolen Heaven and Broken Lullaby.
GManfred
Hallie Hobart (Nancy Carroll), veteran party girl, works the conventions in the Big City and makes money from the agents who sic her on to prospective buyers - in this case, for farm equipment. Into her clutches falls David Stone (Philips Holmes), fresh from a fall off a turnip truck, and Wowzers! David falls head-over-heels for her and wants to marry her. His family is loaded with money and advice, but David is hearing none of it. He marries her and brings her home to his horrified family.What follows is hard to swallow. Suffice it to say there is much pathos, contrivance, animosity, strife and bitterness. There is also reconciliation but, as I say, this second half of the picture must be taken cum grano salis. The main reason to watch this soaper is to watch Nancy Carroll's best acting job. Prior to "The Devil's Holiday" she made several lightweight musical comedies, so her performance here is a jolt. In fact, she was nominated for an Oscar for this film but lost to Norma Shearer in "The Divorcée". 1930's audiences were probably prostrate with grief as the weepy plot unfolds, but 1930 is a long time ago.
kidboots
Nancy Carroll's opportunity to show Hollywood that she could handle more substantial parts than the musical fluff she was always given came about by the death of another actress. Jeanne Eagels was a top Broadway actress who had originated the role of Sadie Thompson in "Rain". She had appeared in a few films when she suddenly died of a heroin overdose. "The Devil's Holiday' was to have been her next film. After Ruth Chatterton's name was mentioned, people remembered the impression Nancy had made as the hardened chorus girl in "The Shopworn Angel" (1928) and the role was hers. This was also her first pairing with Phillips Holmes.Hallie Hobart (Nancy Carroll) is a manicurist who earns most of her money in commissions, entertaining out of town buyers of farm machinery and persuading them to purchase from her associates. Charlie Thorn (the brilliant Ned Sparkes) has a proposition for "the little fella" as he calls her. He wants to introduce her to David Stone (Phillips Holmes), the youngest son of one of the wealthiest men in the country. He is a country "hick" and Hallie believes she will have no trouble in taking him to the cleaners. She gets him in her clutches and Kent Carr ( Jed Prouty) a rival salesman sends for David's brother Mark (James Kirkwood). He talks to Hallie and they have a showdown. He tells her that "her kind" have been hunted off the streets and are now masquerading as decent working girls. David then proposes to her and she agrees, thinking that she will demand $50,000 to abandon him if his father will agree.Back at the farm Hallie finds she is having feelings for David, who is doing his best to make her feel wanted and loved, but she manages to fight them off. David's father Ezra (Hobart Bosworth) does offer her $50,000 to leave the house and she accepts. Meanwhile David and Mark have a fight on the stairs and David is hurt.Hallie is now back in the city, but she has changed, she has become melancholy and surrounds herself with hangers on and alcohol. David has recovered but Dr. Reynolds (Paul Lucas) the only doctor David feels understands him, thinks the only sure cure would be Hallie's return. Ezra goes to the city to bring her back, but when he sees Hallie drinking and carousing, disgustedly returns to the farm. Hallie has a change of heart and has sold everything she owns to return the money to Ezra. After another confrontation with the family, David has a relapse when he realises that initially Hallie was bought off, but he then rallies knowing that now he has Hallie's unconditional love.This was a really great movie and unlike many old films did not play on viewers emotions. It showed that Nancy Carroll was up there with the film greats and not just a song and dance cutie.Highly Recommended.
drednm
Turgid by today's standards and pretty stagy, yet THE DEVIL'S HOLIDAY offers solid performances by Nancy Carroll as a party girl who lands a hick (Phillips Holmes), in from the wheat belt, in a scam. As Hallie, a woman who no scruples and who hates men, Carroll won an Oscar nomination in a flashy role. Holmes is also excellent as the sensitive and naive youth.Hobart Bosworth and James Kirkwood (as the father and brother) are oddly effective in their stereotypical roles. Ned Sparks and Jed Prouty play a couple of sharpies, and Zasu Pitts has a small role as the hotel operator. Paul Lukas shows up (badly cast) as a rural doctor.While the plot veers toward the ludicrous, the actors remain solid and convincing, no easy job.
