Fredric March plays Death in this oddity from 1934. When a bunch of well to do people get together while on holiday in Europe the patriarch gets a visit from a most unexpected visitor; Death. He informs the host, Guy Standing, he will be around for three days to take in the human condition as it were but ends up falling in love w/a woman, Evelyn Venable, who happens to be seeing Standing's son. Humorously while Death is on sabbatical, all deaths stop as people survive car accidents & natural disasters. Being such heady material made during the early days of the talkies probably attracted the audiences it did (I read it was a big hit at the time) but the arch presentation & March's decision to play the role using a vague European accent doesn't engender much accessibility but as a piece of celluloid curiosity, it may be worth a peep to some. A remake was attempted when 1998's Meet Joe Black starring Brad Pitt as Death, Anthony Hopkins as the Duke (changed to a captain of industry) & Claire Forlani as Death's love tried to undo the original's wrongs but its bloated running time (the original's 90 some odd minutes as compared to the nearly 3 hour run time of the new copy) & assumed importance sunk it at the box office, oh well third time's a charm?
Review of Death Takes a Holiday
