"College Holiday" is a film with practically no plot and the writing is generally awful. This is why although there are some talented folks in the film, it manages to make the least of them! Oddly, the film has relatively glowing reviews and a very respectable 7.0. Don't believe it---this is a terrible so-called comedy.
Jack Benny plays a guy whose hotel is going out of business. When a crazy rich lady arrives to try to take over his hotel, he convinces her that he can help her find a lot of subjects for her eugenics experiment* and she has no idea he's the hotel owner. So, Benny goes to colleges around the country recruiting handsome college students--and they have no idea that they are going to be involved in some sort of wacky breeding program! And who is the 'expert' who will be matching up these couples? The ideal woman, Calliope (Gracie Allen).
This plot makes little sense and is just an excuse for a plot. Additionally, considering the Third Reich and what they did in regard to eugenics, it's a completely distasteful subject--selectively breeding people like dogs in order to better the human race. What they don't mention is that the eugenics movement ALSO sought to eliminate so-called 'inferiors'. Mostly, people thought this would occur through mass sterilization programs, but the Nazis found an easier way by simply killing these undesirables! So much for a plot for a comedy!!
As far as the rest of the story goes, it really is very, very thin and there are LOTS of sidetracks. Mostly the film consists of lots of excremental song and dance numbers--some of the worst of the era. This, the general lack of laughs and the goofy plot served to make a singularly awful film--and you can barely tell that it was SUPPOSED to be a comedy. Among the unfunniest folks in this film are Ben Blue and Martha Raye--who are simply detestable and obnoxious. As for George Burns, Gracie Allen and Jack Benny, they should have been a lot funnier and their pairing should have been wonderful. It wasn't and the film is at best annoying. Especially awful is the finale--which is a giant minstrel show!!!!
If you do watch this film, and I pray you don't, look for a couple things. First, Benny hammering out his theme song "Love in Bloom" near the beginning of the film. Second, when Marsha Hunt and Leif Erickson jump into the lake, the underwater shot clearly was done in a pool--as you can see the sides of the pool in the distance.
In conclusion--the film had white folks in black face, almost no laughs AND it promoted Nazi ideals of race supremacy. All in all, reasons that I am right about this awful film and the other reviewers are not!
