Strange Holiday

Claude Rains stars as John Stevenson, a typical American businessman, husband, and father. He goes on a lengthy fishing trip with a pal, and when they return home, John discovers that the government has been overthrown by fascists who have the populace in the grip of fear. As John struggles to understand what has happened, the true cost of losing freedom comes into stark relief. Also featuring Martin Kosleck, Gloria Holden, Milton Kibbee, Helen Mack, and Tommy Cook.

This short (61 minute) movie can't exactly be called a thriller, as there aren't a lot of thrills, and the situation is so exaggerated, and presented in such a hallucinatory way, that you can't really call this a straight drama, either. It plays a bit like an overlong Twilight Zone episode, and it's a definite precursor to the many "Red Menace" films of next 25 years. This was actually produced by General Motors to be shown to employees and their families to hit home how important the American way is, and how fragile it's existence is in the face of tyranny. I'm not sure how people took it back in 1945, but it still seems a little uncomfortable now.

Businessman John Stevenson and his friend Sam Morgan are on a fishing trip in a remote area. When their plane is forced to land he returns home only to find people are scared and unfriendly. Fascists have taken over the US government and his family are missing.

Strange holiday is a strange film. Originally made by General Motors as a propaganda film for their workers but padded out for cinema release. Given his A listing at that time it is a surprise to see Claude Rains in a film of this standard. Watch it for curiosity value only.

As one of 42 people on the face of the Earth who have seen this "badfilm" all the way through I must say it is more poignant and accurate today than it was in 1945. Difficult not to mention it in the same breath as "Plan 9 From Outer Space". I cannot think anyone put it out on DVD unless it is in one of those $1 movie jubilees you find near the checkout at Wal*Mart, but if it is, remember to watch it with the lights out. Now, how the devil I am supposed to get 10 lines of text out a movie this bad is beyond me. The first time I saw it was at a 1am showing of old Republic Films on ABC late night in the early 1990s, we sought it for years afterward in the TV listings hoping to program the VCR to record it but alas, it never came on again. My...wife...my...children. Joe...Joe was there...

Claude Rains is his usual brilliant self.

The film is a terrifying vision of the USA had the Conservative Elite been able to take over the country with their Make America Great fascist rhetoric. Sounds familiar? The raid on the Capitol Building on Wednesday 6th January 2021 could have been the downfall of the USA if Trump the Turnip is not drummed out of politics and the USA. Trump may well have broken the titular country!

A hard-working, happily married man John Stevens (Claude Rains) somewhat abruptly returns home from an agreeably lazy holiday in the mountains in order to celebrate his wedding anniversary, and is then unremittingly Rod Serlinged, with little grace into a dismally unrecognisable, dystopian, iron-fisted, fascist run America! Numbly traversing eerily deserted streets, retailers barred from selling their wares for reason obscure, John's disorientation increasing as he desperately seeks his lost wife and children. Roughly imprisoned for not expressing the newly enforced terror-state, he is then brutally interrogated for crimes he simply cannot comprehend! On one level Arch Oboler's 'Strange Holiday' is shrill, blunt force propaganda, about as subtle as the terrible blood-tide of national Socialism this singular drama is so ardently warning its viewers to fight against; but Claude Rain's raw, uncomfortably pained performance remains both stunningly powerful, and remarkably affecting to this very day.

The oppressive atmosphere generated by this incumbent tyrannical regime is menacingly realised by the capable director, and the truly nightmarish interrogation scene by the maniacal, doggerel-spewing, increasingly sadistic Gestapo Politzist still makes for squirmingly uncomfortable viewing! 'Strange Holiday', while somewhat jarring in its technique, with its portentous usage of pedantic newsreel rhetoric, Ozzie & Harriet homespun smugness, and a terrifyingly stark, Fritz Lang edginess coalesces uneasily into one of the more memorably strange 40s-era agitprop fantasies I have ever seen! Without belabouring the point, I have absolutely no idea why Claude Rain's earnest performance hasn't been given greater kudos by the film loving cognoscenti! Fun B-Movie fact! John Stevens wife is played by the stunning, otherworldly beautiful Gloria Holden ('Dracula's Daughter').