HOLIDAY AFFAIR: Blu-ray (RKO, 1949) Warner Archive

Long before Mariah Carey let out with ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’, director, Don Hartman proved that all most any red-blooded male movie-goer could have wished for in 1949 was actress, Janet Leigh under their mistletoe with a big bow around her neck. Leigh’s pin-up status had not yet reached its apex, but gets played up in Hartman’s Holiday Affair (1949) – a quaint, if unprepossessing little RKO programmer, costarring Robert Mitchum and Wendell Corey. There really isn’t much to this movie beyond its surface sheen as a cute and cuddly fluff entertainment, expertly timed with its seasonal trappings to warm the heart. And while the badinage between Leigh’s perky Connie Ennis, and, Mitchum’s laid-back Steven Mason in Isobel Lennart’s screenplay (based on John D. Weaver’s ‘Christmas Gift’) lends itself rather nicely to a sort of romantic, if minorly antagonistic sparring, the picture lacks that necessary ‘holly in the heart’ clicker to make it as a main staple of the Christmas season.

Despite its general obscurity since its theatrical release, Holiday Affair remains quaintly amusing. In a nutshell, the story revolves around Connie, a widow, who lives with her son, Timmy (Gordon Gebert), has a gig as a comparison shopper, and is dating lawyer, Carl Davis (Wendell Corey).  Incidentally, Connie’s employer is Crowley's – a real department store franchise founded in 1909 in Detroit, Michigan, to successfully rival J. L. Hudson and jointly put on the local Thanksgiving/Christmas parades. Until the late 1970's, Crowley’s was a retail force to be reckoned with. Alas, in 1985, the Crowley family sold its interests in the company. And although the stores remained in operation until the mid-1990’s, it was evident to all its real glory days were fast behind them. As for Connie and Carl…well, their two-year engagement is predictable and dated. Carl is a real stick in the mud.  After an error in judgment nearly causes Connie to lose her job, the camouflage provided by Crowley clerk and war vet, Steve Mason (Robert Mitchum), instead, costs him his. Feeling guilty, Connie spends the afternoon with Steve and…well…she finds him…you know, as does Timmy – much too intelligent for his years. Naturally, Carl is not impressed.

Good call, this – especially, if the man happens to have Mitchum’s broad-shouldered sex appeal, and, better still, is quick with a compliment. So, Carl does his level best to deflate Steve’s generosity. Feeling guilty about her afternoon’s flirtations, Connie accepts Carl’s proposal of marriage. Steve counteracts by purchasing an expensive train set for Timmy – on the surface, an innocuous holiday gesture, even though he barely has enough to pay the rent.  Now, Connie is really conflicted. Actually, she’s not. She is in love with the handsome bloke who knows how to give a girl a good time on a budget, and, increasingly cannot see herself otherwise sold into a loveless marriage to that wooden stick of kindling fiancée of hers, capable of supporting them both in style nonetheless. What follows is a sort of slice-o-life soap opera, a cut above the rest, thanks to Lennart’s screenplay and the acting chops of all concerned. Still, Holiday Affair was a colossal flop when it was released, and this at a time when RKO could scarcely afford one. Reportedly, the picture showed a loss of $300,000 on the ledgers. Not good. Yet, even if time tends to do strange things to movies – re-making some of yesteryears duds into today’s rarefied treasures - Holiday Affair is not exactly a candidate rife for such canonization.  

At best, it’s salvageable fluff and nonsense with a solid cast to sell its wares. Gordon Gebert upstages his more seasoned cohorts at every opportunity – initially, a savvy pint-sized treat, that gradually wears thin. The ‘high water’ mark of the picture is its Christmas dinner sequence where a heartsore Steve, genuine in spirit, though seemingly bereft of tact, lets out his truest intension towards Connie in front of the entire Ennis family – even the parents (Griff Barnett, Esther Dale) of her late husband. Yet, from this audacious moment, fraught with tension, the movie suddenly digresses into a series of rudderless vignettes, most imbued with silly little coincidences, played too slushy to be believed. The picture’s foreseeable finale has some winning moments, but on the whole, Holiday Affair just judders along, leaving one to suspect more than 87-minutes of life has been needlessly expended. Personally, I think Mitchum is miscast; the actor, always better when playing the ambiguous and rugged hero or towering figure of the fall guy with a noble heart…well, sort of; the strong and silent type who just wants to live life on his own terms. Here, Mitchum is expected to adopt the ‘love’s young kiss’ attitude as the hunk du jour. It’s just a little too ‘on the nose’ for this character, and certainly, much too transparent for Mitchum – an actor whose appeal always derived from his ability never to take himself too seriously and just play along with the ideal without actually gilding it into the more ‘obvious’ trappings of a male sex symbol.

Perhaps RKO had other motivations in putting their top box office star in a Christmas movie. In 1948, Mitchum’s reputation as Hollywood’s bad boy was assured when the actor was busted for possession of marijuana, lighting a joint at a Hollywood party in Laurel Canyon.  Mitchum reportedly concluded that the arrest – and his 2-month incarceration – were not only staged by would be the end of both his marriage and career. Instead, spouse, Dorothy Spence stood by his side, and, the release of Rachel and the Stranger, only a month after his arrest, proved a colossal hit for the studio. Holiday Affair is therefore meant to ‘soften’ Mitchum’s image to appeal to the family-orientated folk. But in one effective moment, the ole Mitchum nevertheless shines through, Steve planting a real ‘Christmas kiss’ on the unsuspecting Connie in the kitchen. Leigh would later suggest the forcefulness with which Mitchum attacked her was enough to leave her slightly dizzy. More than any other scene in Holiday Affair, this one is fraught with the sort of kinetic sexual chemistry between Mitchum and Leigh that positively crackles, enough to convince us where the picture is headed. Years later, Mitchum reflected, “I wanted to make the kiss memorable, as though the characters were never going to see each other again. The perks of being an actor are - at times - not bad.”

Warner Archive has predictably done its very best work with this newly minted 1080p Blu-ray, derived from a 2K scan sourced from an interpositive, given a ‘bells and whistles’ cleanup necessary to make it sparkle.  RKO’s holdings were not altogether archived to yield such positive results. But given Holiday Affair’s limited run, its absence from both screen and television re-viewings, the source here was likely in very good shape; its nitrate roots, yielding an image full of silvery greys, deep blacks, and, minute detail with film grain appearing indigenous to its source. The image can seem a tad 'thick' at times, and contrast occasionally hints at being ever-so-slightly blown out. But otherwise, this is a lovely offering from WAC, with good solid depth and clarity, knocking the pants off Warner’s tired old DVD release. Ditto for the 2.0 DTS, showcasing exceptionally clean dialogue, and showing off composer, Roy Webb’s contributions to their very best advantage. Extras are limited to the Lux Radio adaptation, lasting almost an hour, and a trailer, barely 2-mins. long. Bottom line: Holiday Affair is not nearly as fresh or enduring as some of the other timeless Christmas classics Hollywood has given us over the decades. It’s okay, and occasionally fun, but very disposable. The Blu-ray is top-notch. Judge and buy accordingly.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

2.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4.5

EXTRAS

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