George Cukor

Holiday

Holiday

Two years before stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant and director George Cukor would collaborate on The Philadelphia Story, they brought their timeless talents to this delectable slice of 1930s romantic-comedy perfection, the second film adaptation of a hit 1928 play by Philip Barry. Grant is at his charismatic best as the acrobatically inclined free spirit who, following a whirlwind engagement, literally tumbles into the lives of his fiancée’s aristocratic family—setting up a clash of values with her staid father while firing the rebellious imagination of her brash, black-sheep sister (Hepburn). With a sparkling surface and an undercurrent of melancholy, Holiday is an enchanting ode to nonconformists and pie-in-the-sky dreamers everywhere, as well as a thoughtful reflection on what it truly means to live well.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1938
  • 95 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.37:1
  • English
  • Spine #1009

Special Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Holiday (1930), a previous adaptation of Philip Barry’s play, directed by Edward H. Griffith
  • New conversation between filmmaker and distributor Michael Schlesinger and film critic Michael Sragow
  • Audio excerpts from an American Film Institute oral history with director George Cukor, recorded in 1970 and ’71
  • Costume gallery  
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Dana Stevens

New cover based on a theatrical poster

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Holiday (1930), a previous adaptation of Philip Barry’s play, directed by Edward H. Griffith
  • New conversation between filmmaker and distributor Michael Schlesinger and film critic Michael Sragow
  • Audio excerpts from an American Film Institute oral history with director George Cukor, recorded in 1970 and ’71
  • Costume gallery  
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Dana Stevens

New cover based on a theatrical poster

Holiday
Cast
Katharine Hepburn
Linda Seton
Cary Grant
Johnny Case
Doris Nolan
Julia Seton
Lew Ayres
Ned Seton
Edward Everett Horton
Nick Potter
Henry Kolker
Edward Seton
Binnie Barnes
Laura Cram
Jean Dixon
Susan Potter
Henry Daniell
Seton Cram
Credits
Director
George Cukor
Screenplay by
Donald Ogden Stewart
Screenplay by
Sidney Buchman
From the play by
Philip Barry
Produced by
Everett Riskin
Cinematography
Franz Planer
Editor
Otto Meyer
Editor
Al Clark
Art director
Stephen Goossón
Gowns by
Kalloch

Current

A Subtler Side of the Hepburn-Grant Magic
A Subtler Side of the Hepburn-Grant Magic

Filmmaker and distributor Michael Schlesinger and critic Michael Sragow dive into the pleasures of Holiday, a romantic-comedy classic that has long stood in the shadow of The Philadelphia Story but has a poignancy all its own.

Holiday: Play Mates
Holiday: Play Mates

With the chemistry they perfected in their third collaboration, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant proved they were a match made in screwball heaven.

By Dana Stevens

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Top 10
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Top 10

The award-winning director of Drive My Car selects a list of films that are close to his heart, including work by international auteurs he considers underrated.

The Acrobatic Grace of Cary Grant
The Acrobatic Grace of Cary Grant

In the actor’s inimitable comedic work, he undercut his trademark suavity with moments of slapstick mayhem, creating a contrast that hinted at the chasm between his private life and public persona.

By Angelica Jade Bastién