"Strange Holiday" is a surprisingly bad WWII propaganda film...one that should have been a lot better considering it stars Claude Rains. But instead, it's heavy-handed and silly.
The early part of the story consists of flashbacks as John Stevenson (Rains) is incarcerated. First, you see some irrelevant clips of his creepy kids. Then, you see him and his wife. The film then switches to a new locale and apparently Stevenson and a friend are on some extended holiday in the mountains. When they try to get home, they find everything is strange...people are mostly gone and those who they do see are unfriendly.
When Stevenson arrives in his home town, he once again sees that most everyone is gone and no one he sees is willing to tell him what is happening. Soon, the secret police show up and begin torturing him. Eventually (way too long actually) he realizes that the America he knew is no more and fascists have taken over the government.
While the idea of America falling could have been interesting, the film was actually surprisingly dull. Part of it is every time something happens, the camera pans away! Part of it is that the script isn't very good. In particular, it's amazing how long it took Stevenson to realize something is wrong...as well as no one's willingness to talk with him. And, finally, there is no subtlety about it...and it's all very heavy-handed and hard to take seriously. Overall, a bad film...something I didn't think was possible with a Rains movie.
