Holiday Inn

The Definitive Presentation of a Holiday Classic!
I just finished watching the newly released Special Edition of Holiday Inn. I was AMAZED at the clarity of the picture. I've never seen a print of this film looking so pristine. Even on just a regular, 20" non-HDTV set, the hairs askew on top of Bing's toupee during the famous White Christmas scene are plainly visible. Now if you can see single hairs on a person's head during a medium shot on a small television set, that's a stunningly clear picture!

The audio as well is crisp and clear with rich bass and treble tones. If you watch the film with the audio commentary on, you'll hear the dulcet tones of Ken Barnes relating some fascinating tidbits about the making of the film, the songs (one particularly interesting part concerns the verse to White Christmas), the cast, etc. All is enhanced by sound bites from Bing and Fred Astaire themselves in archive audio material from the 1970's. As an example, Bing speaks of the continuing sales of his recording of White Christmas as...

The definitive edition!
I've watched both the spotless B&W version with commentary and the dazzling color version of the Universal 3-disc (including CD) edition of "Holiday Inn" and I am very impressed.

If you haven't seen the film for a while, the very high points are the song "White Christmas" and its reprise and two of Fred Astaire's more unforgettable numbers: a solo dance with firecrackers and a falling down drunk number that has to be seen to be believed. But to be fair, all the numbers are memorable, from the classic "You're Easy to Dance With" to the 18th Century-influenced "I Can't Tell a Lie" and the blackface hommage to Abraham Lincoln, "Abraham", one of Irving Berlin's best "unknown" songs. The two underrated female counterparts (Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale) are also quite nimble and copacetic.

This edition has kept all the extras of the 2006 Special Edition: "A couple of Song and Dance Men", a 50 min double biography of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire that has a lot of...

Presented in Glorious Black & White
I always felt this movie deserved a restoration to preserve its 1942 style B&W richness. Unfortunately this movie has NOT been restored to its original rich and pristine Black & White splendor! It HAS been remastered meaning no cuts or deletions and also includes an approximate 42 minute mini biography of both Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby and a short piece about the making of the song and dance numbers of Holiday Inn.

A holiday perennial along with Miracle on 34th St. and It's A Wonderful Life, this new release is truly a Special Edition!

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