"Be careful it's my heart..." he croons, he swoons, he captures my heart. Bing Crosby is the man. I've just finished watching Holiday Inn and must confess to being more of a Bing girl than a Fred girl. Sure Fred (Astaire) does that incredible tap dance with the firecrackers and it's very rare to find a man, a manly man at that, who can dance. Maybe that's why most women say Fred, he was part of a generation of male entertainers who made dancing masculine - it was just something every respectable gentlemen was expected to be able to do. Unfortunately these old movies have raised my expectations in my future spouse, if he can't sing like Bing or dance like Fred then I'm afraid there's just absolutely no way I could commit to such a relationship. Ultimately, I'd prefer a Gene Kelly he embodies the two...Singing in the Rain, another classic!
Back to Bing. His character in Holiday Inn is just adorable. Fred keeps stealing his women and then one day this girl (oh darn, I forgot her name!) comes along and chooses him over the tapper :-) it's so romantic and the moment he plays White Christmas to her on Christmas day, when it's just the two of them at the inn, under the christmas tree...AH!
Anyway, the real reason for writing this blog is to encourage people to watch Holiday Inn instead of White Christmas. The former is just, well better. White Christmas is uber cheesy, lacks any sort of plot...in fact I can't even remember what happens. Whereas Holiday Inn is very concise and well thought out, the songs are beautiful, the rivalry between Astaire and Crosby is utterly believable, it's real slapstick comedy and even though it's cheesy, it's like GOOD cheese. It was the first black and white film I ever saw and I have been a huge fan ever since :-) it's also the first film in which the song 'White Christmas' is sung... so yeah! It's fabulous!
I guess my real reason for loving the film, is that I wish an inn like Holiday Inn actually existed. It incorporates two of my all time favorite things: 'Holidays' (festivals etc.) and Musical Theatre, woop (!) woop (!) Also, I would have loved to be in one of these films - all that glamour, tap dancing and singing, what more could I want!? It saddens me that films are no longer so musical...sort it out Hollywood. And YOU, yes YOU reading this, stop watching White Christmas and start watching Holiday Inn!
