Events

[SCREENING] Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn made three classic films in the late 1930s. But while Bringing up Baby and The Philadelphia Story may be better known, Holiday (1938) is a movie that deserves to gain a wider following. Based on a play by Philip Barry (who also wrote Philadelphia Story), the film stars Grant as a young man who has worked hard for success and is on the verge of achieving it: a financial deal will pay him a big bonus, and he is engaged to the daughter of a Wall Street bigwig that will ensure his career. Everyone is shocked when he says that he wants to take his earnings to take time off to travel and think about what he most wants to do with his life. His only allies in this are his fiancée’s sister (Hepburn) and brother (Lew Ayres), both chafing at the bounds of respectability they live in. As a story of the rich set in a lavish Manhattan mansion (the film was an Oscar nominee for set decoration), Holiday bears some resemblance to screwball comedy. But it also asks how much money it takes to buy a human soul. Holiday will be presented this evening by the Old Chestnut Film Society, where host Grant Golden shares his library of 16 mm prints, a rarity in this increasingly digital age. If you’ve never been to an Old Chestnut presentation, expect more than just the film: Golden usually has a short or two chosen to accompany the feature.