★ 7 / 10
This is one of Janet Leigh's more endearing
CinemaSerf
This is one of Janet Leigh's more endearing roles - sandwiched, as she is, between the rather dull but reliable attorney "Carl" (Wendell Corey) and the…
This is one of Janet Leigh's more endearing roles - sandwiched, as she is, between the rather dull but reliable attorney "Carl" (Wendell Corey) and the slightly enigmatic "Mason" (Robert Mitchum). It starts when she, "Connie", engaged as a sort of modern day secret shopper, is unmasked in a department store by salesman who instead of dobbing her in, keeps quiet and gets fired for his troubles. The pair go on a date, he meets her young son "Timmy" (Gordon Gebert) and soon she has another man in her life... The film looks at her tussle between the safe and the unknown - and also takes a little look at her own character (previously widowed and reluctant to take the plunge again!). The star of the show, for me anyway, is the young boy. A natural in front of a camera, working well with two experienced stars in a fashion that I found most engaging. His are the last few scenes that gently deliver the common sense that we have long since all to easily guessed will prevail. The ending's a bit rushed, I thought - but a good quick-fire scene from an incredulous police lieutenant Harry Morgan and some fun with a train set make this a better than average Christmas feel-good drama.
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★ 8 / 10
All anybody wants is for you to live
John Chard
All anybody wants is for you to live in the present and not be afraid of the future. Directed by Don Hartman and written by Isobel Lennart and John D. Weaver…
All anybody wants is for you to live in the present and not be afraid of the future.
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
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★ 7 / 10
The problems facing war widows
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…
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.
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AUDIENCE
· 500 ratings
7.2/10
8.1K
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Could you reseed this or something. Im stuck at 93% on the 1080p