Death Takes a Holiday (1934)

1934 • 79 mínútur

Um þessa kvikmynd

In the pre-code classic Death Takes a Holiday, the Grim Reaper (Fredric March) pays a visit to a family of wealthy socialites though he is not there on his usual business. Intent on entering the human world for a three-day holiday, Death takes the form of a visiting prince and assumes all the pleasures and pains that go with flesh and blood existence. Experiencing, for the first time, all that humanity has to offer, he becomes enamored of Grazia (Evelyn Venable), a woman both in love with life and infatuated with death. But soon, in Death's absence, life is running dangerously and unexplainably rampant, and knowing that he must return to his eternally grim world, he conceives a plan, involving Grazia, to allow him to take back some of what he has learned and yearned for. Co-starring Henry Travers (Clarence, the angel of It's a Wonderful Life), this thrilling and evocative portrayal of death's lesson and life's blessing is one of the golden age of Hollywood's most memorable films.

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I remember watching this movie on a black & white TV, and I was the channel changer. We got 4 channels at that time, on the east coast. In the 1960s, TV consisted with mostly news channels, comedy programs (Red Skelton, among others from the 1950s), and cartoons like Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner - and that only on Saturday mornings. And there were the movies, all black and white (we didn't get a color TV until I was 12). I grew up with Rebecca, The Thin Man, Angels with Dirty Faces, The Petrified Forest, and so many more. Pride and Prejudice. And this wonderful movie, Death Takes a Holiday. It was a little creepy, but beautiful too. Frederic March has been one of my favorite actors. His depth of range is wonderful. This was the first time (at least to me) that had such a novel premise - that Death can walk among humans, to find out what it's like to be human. There is humanity in this. Wonderfully acted and staged.

This is one of the best B&W movies ever, USC, played the cellulose film of this movie one last time and then sealed it... get a copy here and add this to your library. . A must see movie..

Enjoyed it very much, Fredric March is terrific, but was very disappointed with the subtitles that I couldn't get off, extremely distracting. Google play shouldn't do that to people!!