I have my reasons for disliking many films from the early 30s. Due to the technical limitations of the time, many of those films were based on stage plays in which most of the action is confined to one or two sets. Death Takes a Holiday is no exception with the script based on a 1924 Italian play La morte in vacanza by Alberto Casella.
Of course, many later films are also based on stage plays and feature a surfeit of dialogue. But it's often the declamatory way the actors at the time delivered their lines as long-winded speeches as opposed to the ebb and flow of natural dialogue between the players we're used to watching today.
In Death Takes a Holiday it takes about half an hour before the main character of Death, disguised as Prince Sirki, played by the famed thespian Frederic March, appears. We meet all the guests of Duke Lambert (Guy Standing) at his Italian villa who are almost all killed in respective car accidents as the two cars they're driving in swerve to avoid a vendor and his horse on the road.
Much is made of Death's "shadow" who some of the guests complain about seeing before their near brush with eternity. It's all melodramatically overdone as the shadow is designed to foreshadow the entrance of the Prince (Death now in the mortal form of Prince Sirki).
The Prince's motivation for taking a holiday on earth is explained when he informs the Duke he wants to find out why humans fear him so much.
The narrative is so incredibly one-note. There are assorted jokes about how the prince is nonplussed when he no longer has the usual effect on humans or nature due to taking mortal form for three days. For example, when one of the houseguests puts a flower on his lapel, he simply cannot believe it that the flower doesn't wilt.
During his "holiday," people expected to meet their end are given a lease on life. Another type of joke has the prince attempting to hide his glee whenever a candidate is presented about to meet their end. He remarks that he feels "responsible" when someone who is supposed to die, does not.
Instead, he offers to send a "letter of condolence" to the man who cheats death (in this particular case, it's a man who jumped off the Eiffel Tower and survived!).
Aside from the repetitious humor, the machinations involving the houseguests is by and large forgettable. Eventually they all get wind that the prince is actually death himself and basically try and contain themselves from freaking out.
The main plot involves the prince falling in love with Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the only houseguest who recognizes who the prince really is and is not afraid of him. She opts to go with him at film's end, thus choosing death over life. But the prince learns a valuable lesson too-that love is just as strong as the fear of death which gives humans their purpose in this world.
Director Mitchell Liesen reported that he received approximately 8,000 letters following the film's release in 1934 from viewers that claimed the film helped them overcome their fear of death.
Frederic March really has the only memorable part as Prince Sirki, effecting a Transylvanian accent throughout which reminds us of Count Dracula.
One might conclude that the film's overall message is an admirable one: "don't be afraid of death"-although the dated way the narrative is presented ensures that this is a film that certainly hasn't stood the test of time.
Of course, many later films are also based on stage plays and feature a surfeit of dialogue. But it's often the declamatory way the actors at the time delivered their lines as long-winded speeches as opposed to the ebb and flow of natural dialogue between the players we're used to watching today.
In Death Takes a Holiday it takes about half an hour before the main character of Death, disguised as Prince Sirki, played by the famed thespian Frederic March, appears. We meet all the guests of Duke Lambert (Guy Standing) at his Italian villa who are almost all killed in respective car accidents as the two cars they're driving in swerve to avoid a vendor and his horse on the road.
Much is made of Death's "shadow" who some of the guests complain about seeing before their near brush with eternity. It's all melodramatically overdone as the shadow is designed to foreshadow the entrance of the Prince (Death now in the mortal form of Prince Sirki).
The Prince's motivation for taking a holiday on earth is explained when he informs the Duke he wants to find out why humans fear him so much.
The narrative is so incredibly one-note. There are assorted jokes about how the prince is nonplussed when he no longer has the usual effect on humans or nature due to taking mortal form for three days. For example, when one of the houseguests puts a flower on his lapel, he simply cannot believe it that the flower doesn't wilt.
During his "holiday," people expected to meet their end are given a lease on life. Another type of joke has the prince attempting to hide his glee whenever a candidate is presented about to meet their end. He remarks that he feels "responsible" when someone who is supposed to die, does not.
Instead, he offers to send a "letter of condolence" to the man who cheats death (in this particular case, it's a man who jumped off the Eiffel Tower and survived!).
Aside from the repetitious humor, the machinations involving the houseguests is by and large forgettable. Eventually they all get wind that the prince is actually death himself and basically try and contain themselves from freaking out.
The main plot involves the prince falling in love with Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the only houseguest who recognizes who the prince really is and is not afraid of him. She opts to go with him at film's end, thus choosing death over life. But the prince learns a valuable lesson too-that love is just as strong as the fear of death which gives humans their purpose in this world.
Director Mitchell Liesen reported that he received approximately 8,000 letters following the film's release in 1934 from viewers that claimed the film helped them overcome their fear of death.
Frederic March really has the only memorable part as Prince Sirki, effecting a Transylvanian accent throughout which reminds us of Count Dracula.
One might conclude that the film's overall message is an admirable one: "don't be afraid of death"-although the dated way the narrative is presented ensures that this is a film that certainly hasn't stood the test of time.