Holiday Inn

As such films as Chicago and Moulin Rouge give some hope to those who’d like to see the return of the movie musical, it’s salutary to look once again at those performe... more >

As such films as Chicago and Moulin Rouge give some hope to those who’d like to see the return of the movie musical, it’s salutary to look once again at those performers for whom the genre was in their very blood -- and to whom (let's face it), today's performers could hardly hold a candle. While Irving Berlin's HOLIDAY INN was by no means the best showcase for the singing and dancing talents of the incomparable Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, it's still sheer pleasure just watching these two performers at work, even in one of their lesser vehicles (the story is pretty thin). The songs, are of course cherishable, and Astaire's routines are as breathtaking as ever. This is a Laureate production, and like other entries in Ken Barnes' invaluable series (such as the recent reissue of Frank Sinatra's The Man with the Golden Arm) it's a deluxe production with an excellent feature on the performers, an intelligent audio commentary by Barnes (with Archive comments by Astaire and Crosby) and detailed production notes. It's encouraging to see the great musicals appearing on the DVD genre, and while this is no Singin' in the Rain, it's still pretty nigh unmissable. < less

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DVD Extras

• 'A Couple Of Song And Dance Men' featurette (45 mins)
• 'The Sound Of Taps' featurette
• Audio commentary featuring exclusive clips of Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby talking about their experiences in making the movie.

Film Details

Cast

Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Marjorie Reynolds

Technical Details