Christmas Holiday (1944) on Netflix
Jackie, a hostess at the Maison Lafitte, meets Army officer Charlie Mason on Christmas Eve. She tells him of her marriage to Robert Manette, a charming but unbalanced Southern aristocrat.
- Watch on NetflixThis title is not on Netflix right now. Please check back later for updates.
- Watch on NordVPN
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.4/101,881 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes75%
Trailer
Plot summary
On Christmas Eve in New Orleans, U.S. Army officer Charlie Mason comes to the Maison Lafitte nightclub, where he meets Jackie, a hostess and singer there. She tells him her story: she married Robert Manette, a charming Southern aristocrat who inherited his family's streak of violence and instability. Robert's mother, Mrs. Manette, is a controlling woman, and the marriage brought Jackie misery.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Christmas Holiday (1944)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz was fired when Universal executives saw him drunk on the studio lot, then talked producer Felix Jackson into rehiring him a week later by asking whether Mankiewicz drunk was still better than Dwight Taylor sober.
- Producer Walter Wanger tried to film W. Somerset Maugham's novel in 1939, but the Hays Office rejected the proposal, feeling the story of an Englishman meeting a beautiful Russian prostitute was too sordid.
- Universal got Gene Kelly, who played Deanna Durbin's husband, by loaning actor Turhan Bey to MGM in exchange.
- Robert Siodmak said Deanna Durbin cried on cue for five days of filming, but each day she stopped at 4 pm sharp and would cry no more.
- Christmas Holiday was the first film Deanna Durbin starred in that had not been specifically written for her.
- Screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz moved the story from a Paris brothel to a nightclub in New Orleans and changed the main character from a prostitute to a more ambiguous nightclub singer and hostess.
