Holiday for Lovers

My husband and I have seen this twice. He is not usually an older movie fan, but watches it with me. He laughed often all the way through. Perhaps if you are a parent you see it as being a bit more realistic in how a parent would respond to their children growing up. I thought it was very good, but I knew it was good for us because of the father's, Clifton Webb's, reactions. Jane Wyman was the peacekeeping mother, which I think is still more common than we admit. And to the person who complained they did not recognize Jill St. John because she did not have red hair, please. She was on her third movie, I believe, and many actors and actress change looks, hair color included and sometimes a minor part of the change, for the screen. The story line was a fairly natural progression of a young woman's family meeting her intended's family, but in a foreign country and with some mix ups, and the differences both sides may have in a bit of a culture clash. The addition of the younger daughter, played by Carol Lynley, was done very well, and the awareness of the parents in confirming they had two adult daughters reminded me especially of my father as his daughters grew up. My father had three, along with three sons, and was protective also, but brought us up to think for ourselves, sometimes to his chagrin. The scenery was beautiful and I think the producers really tried to give you the feeling that you were seeing some of Brazil at that time period. The sandwiches at the bullfight, and the American reaction to what they thought they wanted to see, is a good example, along with more obvious landmark views. Enjoy!

Just to correct a previous comment, "Holiday for Lovers" was not remade as "Take Her, She's Mine." Although thematically similar, these two stories come from different source material, although both started out as Broadway plays.

The play "Holiday for Lovers" was written by Ronald Alexander, who also wrote "Time Out for Ginger", which was made into a Patty Duke movie, "Billie." "Holiday for Lovers" ran for 100 performances at the Longacre Theater from Feb. 14, 1957 to May 11, 1957. The biggest name star in the cast was Don Ameche playing the father. The setting of the play was hotels in New York, Paris, Seville, and Rome. One can only speculate why the film version re-set the story in South America. Given the year, 1959, it might have been at the urging of some agency of the U.S. Governent to support the "Good Neighbor Policy," which was meant to keep Communism out of Latin America.

The play "Take Her, She's Mine" was written by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, inspired by the adventures of their then-22 year old daughter, Nora Ephron. The play ran for 404 performances at the Biltmore Theater from Dec. 21, 1961 to Dec. 8, 1962. The play was set in Southern California and New England. Among the luminaries in the cast were Art Carney and Phyllis Thaxter, playing the parents; Elizabeth Ashley, playing the older daughter (for which role she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play); and Richard Jordan. Karen Black was an understudy in this production!

This one won't be for everyone but I enjoyed the gentle, quiet side of it as well as its comedy. There are parts that move slowly and parts that may not make sense to some in a modern audience. I watched them as a slice of life, and for the most part I liked them.

This is a fun little film featuring Clifton Webb and Jane Wyman as parents who chase their 2 daughters through South America as the young women find love. Webb is wonderful as always and his drunk scene is a classic. Wyman isn't given much to do but calm her exasperated spouse but Carol Lynley is impressive as the younger daughter (although her choice of chubby Gary Crosby as lover is a bit hard to understand). Jill St John is awfully wet as the older daughter - you could never believe she was an accomplished sculptor. But as her lover Nico Minardos is very funny and very sexy - as a "Brazilian beatnik". Paul Henreid is suave as his father.

There are some funny scenes - the strip search is good - and dialogue and there is great music, including a fabulous flamenco dance sequence with Jose Greco. But why oh why didn't they take the actors on location? The production is a high budget cinemascope movie so why not spend that little bit more? Instead we get lots of second unit travelogue type footage of Sao Paulo, Rio, Lima and Trinidad and the actors standing in front of obvious rear projections. This almost ruins the film.

In Holiday For Lovers Clifton Webb plays a psychiatrist who practices in Boston and is married to Jane Wyman and is trying to raise two daughters played by Jill St. John and Carol Lynley. Jill is studying architecture in Sao Paulo with renowned leader of the field Paul Henreid. A letter from her makes her parents rather suspicious that architecture is not all that Henreid has in mind. So all three decide to take an immediate vacation in South America. All without ever leaving the 20th Century back lot.

The problem isn't Henreid who just sees St. John as a talented student, but Henreid's son Nico Minardos who is a Brazilian beatnik and really does not want to work. Both Webb and Henreid have real concerns.

In addition Carol Lynley is swept off her feet by Air Force enlistee Gary Crosby. They have a whirlwind courtship of their own while Webb, Wyman, and Henreid are dealing the other children.

Webb and Wyman really don't have great chemistry as a married couple, their scenes seem forced. Doing better in that department are Wally Brown and Henny Backus playing a pair of crass American tourists who get Webb and his family in some interesting trouble with customs officials in Lima, Peru.

The South American holiday does feature some nice second unit cinematography which serve as rather obvious backgrounds that the studio bound cast steps in front of. Nobody got a trip to Sao Paulo, Rio De Janiero or Lima out of this except cameramen. This was because Clifton Webb's career as a star was winding down, his rather unique appeal was waning by 1959. He would do one more film and that one, Satan Never Sleeps would make this rather average family comedy look like Citizen Kane.