Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly in “Christmas Holiday”

Christmas Holiday (1944) is a film noir directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly. Audiences in 1944 might have thought they were going to see a light musical, considering the talent involved, but it’s a heavy drama with both Durbin and Kelly playing against type.

This was Durbin’s biggest box office success up to that time and Universal’s biggest hit of the year, but it’s practically forgotten today. The film has an interesting pedigree. It’s based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham, with a screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz (Citizen Kane). The cinematographer was Woody Bredell (The Killers, The Inspector General). It had an Academy Award-nominated film score by Hans J. Salter (The Reckless Moment), and a new song, “Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year” by Frank Loesser.

Deanna Durbin reads her fan mail. Durbin had the largest fan club in the world.

Like Judy Garland, Durbin had grown up on film. At 15, Durbin starred in Three Smart Girls (1936) and became an overnight sensation. She had the vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano. Durbin had considered a career in opera, but the movies changed all that. In 1938, she was awarded the Academy Juvenile Award. Durbin starred in a string of box office hits where she was the wholesome heroine with a beautiful singing voice. In almost all of her features, Durbin would sing a famous opera aria. As she matured, Durbin wanted to tackle more adult roles. Durbin was 23 when Christmas Holiday was released. Critics weren’t too sure the role was right for Durbin, but director Siodmak thought she was a “real actress” and had confidence that she was up to playing the abused wife of a small-time criminal (Kelly).

This publicity still for Christmas Holiday belies the dark subject matter.

Kelly was brought to Hollywood and put under contract by M-G-M based on his performance in Pal Joey on Broadway. The same year that Christmas Holiday was released, Kelly, on loan to Columbia, starred with Rita Hayworth in the Technicolor musical Cover Girl. With Durbin and Kelly in the same picture, movie fans surely expected a musical or light comedy but were drawn into a complicated drama set during the Christmas holiday.

Despite the critics being “bothered” that wholesome Durbin was playing a woman of questionable character, audiences ate it up. It was a huge commercial success. Based on the film’s box office, Durbin signed a new exclusive six-year contract.

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube

Click HERE to join the online discussion on December 16, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. What did you think of Gene Kelly and Deanna Durbin playing against type?
2. Would you consider Christmas Holiday a film noir? If not a film noir, what genre would you categorize it?
3. Did the setting (New Orleans) add anything to the film?
4. The film has a strong supporting cast. Did any of the supporting performances stand out to you?
5. Did anything about the film surprise you?

“Christmas Holiday”’s unlikely stars and Hollywood’s fascination with Sigmund Freud

During the 1940s, Hollywood discovered that psychological thrillers could mean big box office.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1942) dealt with the psychologically damaged “Uncle Charlie.” Gaslight (1944) concerned a husband systematically attempting to drive his wife mad. In 1945, Spellbound dealt with a psychiatrist trying to help a man whose suppression of a childhood trauma haunted his adult life. Rope (1948) dealt with two psychologically disturbed young men who wanted to know what it would feel like to kill someone.

In Spellbound, psychiatrist Ingrid Bergman tries to help Gregory Peck remember his suppressed childhood trauma.

So the fact that Christmas Holiday (1944) dealt with an unnatural relationship between a mother and a son and its effects on the son’s wife was a theme that 1940s film audiences were primed for. What would have been surprising was the casting.

Gene Kelly opposite Judy Garland in For Me and My Gal (1942)

Gene Kelly was still a relative newcomer to the movies. Before 1944, Kelly had only appeared in five films, none of which had him as the male lead. It was on loan-out to Columbia for Cover Girl and Universal for Christmas Holiday (both released in 1944) that Kelly got equal billing with his female costars. The dancing, clowning, and charming Gene Kelly that we remember today, that image hadn’t been firmly established yet.

Deanna Durbin with Mickey Rooney when she was under a short-term contract with M-G-M

Deanna Durbin, on the other hand, was a true superstar. She was a radio personality when she was a child, appearing regularly on Eddie Cantor’s weekly radio program and she was also a recording artist, often recreating her movie songs for commercial release. At fourteen, she made her first feature-length film, Three Smart Girls (1936), and became an overnight sensation. Every parent in American wanted a daughter like Durbin. As she matured, the studio was careful to manage her girl-next-door image. When she made First Love (1939), she received her first on-screen kiss from a young Robert Stack. The press dubbed it “The Kiss Heard ‘Round the World.” In 1944, Durbin was a 22-year-old divorcee and was ready to tackle more adult roles. The question was would audiences accept her as something other than the perfect daughter on screen. Christmas Holiday was a commercial success—her biggest thus far—but audiences still seemed to prefer her in light comedies and musicals. By 1949, Durbin was finished with the movies and Hollywood. At 28, she decided to retire. In 1950, she married French director Charles David and moved to France, where she lived for the remainder of her life. She died on April 17, 2013. She was 91. After her retirement, many people tried to get her to come back to the stage and movies. Lerner and Lowe offered her the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but she turned it down, saying, “I had my ticket to Paris in my pocket.” She turned down roles in the stage and film version of Kiss Me Kate (1953) and the film version of The Student Prince (1954). Producer Joe Pasternak, who helped develop her talent at Universal from day one, begged her to come with him to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but nothing could persuade Durbin to return to performing.

Durbin turned into a glamorous young woman.

Interesting Durbin Trivia
“Such was Durbin’s international fame and popularity that diarist Anne Frank pasted her picture to her bedroom wall in the Achterhuis where the Frank family hid during World War II. The picture can still be seen there today, and was pointed out by Frank’s friend Hannah Pick-Goslar in the documentary film Anne Frank Remembered.” The Jewish Standard 2010

The arrow points to Durbin’s picture in Anne Frank’s bedroom.

Indian director Satyajit Ray mentions Deanna Durbin while accepting honorary Oscar.

“Christmas Holiday”—an unlikely film noir

Christmas Holiday (1944) is a film noir directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly. Audiences in 1944 might have thought they were going to see a light musical, considering the talent involved, but it’s a heavy drama with both Durbin and Kelly playing against type.

This was Durbin’s biggest box office success up to that time and Universal’s biggest hit of the year, but it’s practically forgotten today. The film has an interesting pedigree. It’s based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham, with a screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz (Citizen Kane). The cinematographer was Woody Bredell (The Killers, The Inspector General). It had an Academy Award-nominated film score by Hans J. Salter (The Reckless Moment), and a new song, “Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year” by Frank Loesser.

Deanna Durbin reads her fan mail. Durbin had the largest fan club in the world.

Like Judy Garland, Durbin had grown up on film. At 15, Durbin starred in Three Smart Girls (1936) and became an overnight sensation. She had the vocal range of a legitimate lyric soprano. Durbin had considered a career in opera, but the movies changed all that. In 1938, she was awarded the Academy Juvenile Award. Durbin starred in a string of box office hits where she was the wholesome heroine with the beautiful singing voice. In almost all of her features, Durbin would sing a famous opera aria. As she matured, Durbin wanted to tackle more adult roles. Durbin was 23 when Christmas Holiday was released. Critics weren’t too sure the role was right for Durbin, but director Siodmak thought she was a “real actress” and had confidence that she was up to playing the abused wife of a small-time criminal (Kelly).

This publicity still for Christmas Holiday belies the dark subject matter.

Kelly was brought to Hollywood and put under contract by M-G-M based on his performance in Pal Joey on Broadway. The same year that Christmas Holiday was released, Kelly, on loan to Columbia, starred with Rita Hayworth in the Technicolor musical Cover Girl. With Durbin and Kelly in the same picture, movie fans surely expected a musical or light comedy, but instead, they were drawn into a complicated drama set during the Christmas holiday.

In spite of the critics “bothered” that wholesome Durbin was playing a woman of questionable character, audiences ate it up. It was a huge commercial success. Based on the film’s box office, Durbin was signed to a new exclusive six-year contract.

Watch to the movie on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sBVWLwwkt3I

Join us for the discussion on Zoom on Tuesday, April 28 at 6:30 p.m. Central Time.

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Time: Apr 28, 2020 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

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Durbin and Kelly share a light moment on the set of Christmas Holiday.

Discussion Questions:
1. Noir or not? Does it fit in with your idea of film noir?
2. What did you think of the performances?
3. The film had some famous character actors, including Gladys George and Gale Sondergaard. What did you think of their performances?
4. What did you make of the mother-son relationship?
5. In Hitchcock films, there is something called the “transference of guilt.” This often involves a transference of guilt in which the “innocent” character’s failings are transferred to another character, and magnified. Do you think this transference of guilt was a big part of Christmas Holiday?

Deanna Durbin has her hand and footprints immortalized at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in 1936

Deanna Durbin: The Reluctant Movie Star

Deanna Durbin was born on December 4, 1921, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In 1923, Durbin’s parents moved to Southern California, where they raised Deanna and her older sister Edith. From a young age, Durbin’s extraordinary singing voice was recognized and nurtured. Before long, Hollywood took notice, and Durbin was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1935.

At M-G-M, there was another girl singer signed to a movie contract named Judy Garland. The studio starred Durbin and Garland in a short film, Every Sunday (1936). The film was a showcase for the vocal talents of both young women. Garland’s contemporary “swing” style of vocalization contrasted with Durbin’s classical operatic voice. After the film’s release, the studio dropped Durbin from their star roster, but kept Garland. There are a lot of stories surrounding the reason Durbin’s contract was not renewed, but it just appears to have been more of an oversight than the studio preferring Garland.

When M-G-M didn’t renew Durbin’s contract, she was signed immediately by Universal Studios. Her first feature film, Three Smart Girls (1936) was a box office bonanza and is credited with saving the struggling studio from bankruptcy. The film was so popular that it made Durbin an overnight sensation. In 1939, she, along with Mickey Rooney, received a juvenile Oscar for her film work in 1938.

Durbin, center, with her Three Smart Girls screen sisters Nan Grey, left, and Barbara Read

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Durbin was one of the biggest and most beloved movie stars in the entire world. She was one of Anne Frank’s favorites; Frank had a picture of Durbin on her bedroom wall, in the home where the Frank family hid during World War II. When Durbin received her first screen kiss in 1939’s First Love, from Robert Stack, the press dubbed it “the kiss heard around the world.”

By the time Durbin celebrated her 21rst birthday, she was the highest-paid woman in the United States and the highest-paid female movie star in the world. At her peak, she was earning $400,000 per picture. One of the best movies she made during this period was the romantic comedy It Started With Eve (1941), costarring Charles Laughton and Robert Cummings. As Durbin matured, she wanted to tackle more serious roles. She starred in the dark murder-mystery Christmas Holiday (1944), based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham. The dark-themed movie paired her with screen newcomer Gene Kelly. With the innocuous title, Durbin and Kelly fans were probably expecting a musical rather than a noirish melodrama. To many, it proved that Durbin could act, and if given the proper vehicle, she might have transitioned to more challenging adult roles. However, this was not to be; Durbin’s fans preferred her in lighter fare.

Cheerful publicity shot of Durbin and Gene Kelly from the dark-themed Christmas Holiday

During the rest of the 1940s, Durbin continued to star in successful light romantic comedies. Even though the quality of her films wasn’t always the best, she was still a big box office draw, and her fan club was the largest in the world. Growing tired of the poor scripts Universal was giving her, Durbin later declared, “I couldn’t go on forever being Little Miss Fixit who burst into song.” By 1949, Durbin turned her back on Hollywood and decided to retire at the ripe old age of 28. She married for a third time to producer-director Charles David and moved to France, where she lived a very private life as wife and mother.

Durbin turned down numerous offers to star in films at other studios. Bing Crosby wanted her to costar with him in Top o’ the Morning and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (both 1949). Supposedly, Durbin was Alan Jay Lerner’s first choice to play Eliza Doolittle in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady. For years, the offers would come, and Durbin would turn them down. She shunned the press for decades. She reluctantly agreed to an interview in 1983.

Durbin, the voice that saved a studio and charmed the world

In spite of Durbin’s disillusionment with Hollywood, she left a body of work that documents her extraordinary vocal range. Combined with her natural acting abilities, Durbin endeared herself to a generation of moviegoers. Today, Durbin’s films might seem corny and formulaic, but even in her most pedestrian vehicles, her warmth and charm shine through. Deanna Durbin may have turned her back on Hollywood and all that came with screen stardom, but her fans never turned their backs on the girl with the golden voice.

For a glimpse of Durbin and her extraordinary voice, check out the clip below from Mad About Music (1938). She was 16 years old when she recorded this version of  "Ave Maria."