Conference bookie::movies

    > with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and ...?
    
    Vera-Ellen.  (But I don't remember if that one was HI or WC!)
    
    Leslie

    So you are saying there were 2 MOVIES- Holiday Inn and White Christmas!
    
    Where they both the same premise?  Boy I am confused.
    
    

Yes, there are two separate movies - White Christmas is (obviously) based
around Christmas; I believe Holiday Inn is based around Easter, but I'm
not positive, as I haven't seen that one.

And I believe they were very similar movies, and that White Christmas was
basically just a remake of Holiday Inn.

alan

    Re .3: Well, "Holiday Inn" features *holidays*, including Easter and
    Christmas and the Fourth of July and as many others as they could cram
    in<n>. But since it does include the song "White Christmas," lots of
    people (including me) get confused.
    
    "Holiday Inn" revolved around the attempts of our heroes to revive a
    failing country inn by coming up with a gimmick (the holiday theme) and
    some entertainment (their chance to dance and sing and throw together
    production numbers).
    
    I don't recall the details of "White Christmas" offhand; it wasn't an
    out and out remake, but did involve an inn. I think. Will have to check
    the books when I get home.
    
    -b

The only real similarites between "Holiday Inn" and "White Christmas" are that
they both involve inns, they both contain the song, "White Christmas," and
Bing Crosby appears in both.  "Holiday Inn" was made in the 40s (I think) and
is in black and white.  "White Christmas" was made in the 50s and is in color.

Beth has the basic plot of "Holiday Inn" right in .4.  Add to that a love
triangle between the characters played by the stars: Bing Crosby, Fred
Astaire, and a woman whose name I can't remember.  It is a less overtly (?)
"Christmas movie" than "White Christmas," but it certainly is suitable for
the season.

As for "White Christmas," it stars Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney,
and Vera-Ellen.  Danny and Bing are in the same army unit in WWII (Danny is a
private and Bing is an officer).  Bing is a well-known crooner/performer. 
Danny saves Bing's life during the war, and after the war ends, they become
successful show-biz partners.  For their show, they audition the act of The
Haynes Sisters (played by Rosemary and Vera-Ellen).  Danny wants to get Bing
married off so that he (Danny) can have "45 minutes all to myself" (see the
movie for details :-) ), so he wants to fix up Bing with Rosie.  For various
unlikely reasons (this is Hollywood, after all!), all four of them end up in
Pine Tree, Vermont, at an inn that has booked the sisters as holiday
entertainment.  The inn turns out to be owned by Danny and Bing's former army
 general, General Waverly (aka The Old Man).  Well, business is pretty bad at
the inn because there is no snow, so Bing and Danny decide to try and help
out The Old Man by bringing their show to the inn to draw in hordes of
customers. This allows the movie to work in several production numbers that
have nothing to do with the plot. :-)

Anyway, there's a misunderstanding between Rosie and Bing, to provide the
obligatory hindrance to romance (a misunderstanding that could be easily
remedied by Rosie if she would only TELL Bing what was wrong, and this irks
me every time I watch the movie, but of course it's no fun if the path to
True Love is always smooth :-) ), and there's a subplot involving the general
feeling useless and unwanted.  Naturally, everything works out in the end,
with a grand "White Christmas" finale.

My favorite number in the movie is the one where Danny and Bing lip-synch the
sisters' song and perform it in semi-drag.  The reason for the number is
pretty silly, but the number itself is hilarious!

"White Christmas" was the first pre-recorded video we owned; it's a favorite
of my S.O.'s, and I gave it to him for Christmas several years ago.  So I've
seen it a few times! :-)
							-- Nina

    Re .5: Aha! (Turns out I was thinking of the "sisters" sub-plot of
    "White Christmas" as belonging to "Holiday Inn" - it IS confusing,
    isn't it...)
    
    "There were never such devoted sisters..."
    
    -b

Saw "White Christmas" last night ... my favorite scene - "... hot buttered
rum - light on the butter - and snow.   Snoooooooooooooooooooow ..."   :^)

- Dave

Actually _White Christmas_ was an out and out remake of _Holiday Inn_. 
Paramount wanted to remake one of their most successful films in Technicolor
and VistaVision and rake in the cash. Few details were changed. In fact,
they wanted Fred Astaire to reprise his role opposite Bing but by then he
was in the middle of his temporary retirement. Fred's last film before his
"retirement" had been co-starring with Bing in _Blue Skies_ which also had
a similar plot to WC and HI. Had he made WC with Bing it would have made
a neat triptych. It would have been great to have had Fred in WC but at 
least they cast Vera Ellen to carry the dancing load.


Randy

>Actually _White Christmas_ was an out and out remake of _Holiday Inn_. 
>Paramount wanted to remake one of their most successful films in Technicolor
>and VistaVision and rake in the cash. Few details were changed.

I can't claim to know what Paramount intended, but I'd say rather more than
a FEW details changed between "Holiday Inn" and "White Christmas"...

And Danny Kaye carries a good part of the dancing load in WC as well! :-)

						-- Nina

My wife wants to know - whatever happened to she-of-the-Barbie-doll-
proportions, Vera Ellen?

- thanks
  Dave

    I saw bits of WC on two occasions on tv this past week; the print had
    been restored; BIG mistake!!!  Unfortunately, the restoration managed
    to convert the original deeper shadings into primary colors - Yucch!
    The first sighting, I missed the beginning and ending credits, and
    thought I was watching a colorized Holiday Inn, but I knew that HI
    starred Astaire (No way would Kaye do the 4th of July number!)
    
    Holiday Inn was definitely a better film to my mind.  Now let't hope
    Ted doesn't Colorize it...
    
    Carl

I don't understand why people have problems with colorized films.  Can't
you just turn the color down?

  ... not really, the gray shades are more "mushy" when you turn off the color
of a colorized film, however I agree that all this breast beating about
colorization is a bit overstated. In most cases, it's not that bad.

  George

    
    
    I saw the opening credits for WC this week on TV. The first part
    was an self-promoting ad for VISTA-VISION. What the hell is
    VISTA-VISION?
    
            -=-=-R~C~W-=-=-

    VISTA-VISION was Paramount studio's answer to 20 Century-Fox's
    CinemaScope process (of course you remember CinemaScope).  
    Both were intended for wide-screen projection (the old screen ratio
    replaced by the "dollar-bill" shape in an effort to compete with the
    new-fangled television sets).  
    
    I believe VV could be projected onto both types of screens - the top
    and bottom of the frame contained nothing of importance, so they could
    be masked off harmlessly for wide-screen showings.  Also it seems to 
    me there was a greater depth of focus ("Motion Picture Hi-Fidelity").  
    
    Ron D.

    I bought myself an early Christmas present, you know... from me to me!
    
    White Christmas.  I love it when they fool the General into wearing his
    uniform and then sing.. "Because We Love Him".  It brings tears to my
    eyes every time!!!

RE .12 

Films shot in color and films shot in black in white are done, by necessity,
quite differently. The lighting, costuming, sets, etc, are very different.
Also some subjects lend themselves to one or the other. For instance an
adventure film such as _The Adventures of Robin Hood_ works better in color
but a film noir such as _The Maltese Falcon_ works better in color. When you
turn the color down in a colorized film you are not restoring the film to the
way it was originally filmed. The colorization process destroys the contrast,
shadings, etc, that distinguish a well filmed b&w film to a poor one. These
are only some of the prectical reasons against colorization, there's also
ethical objections. What you are doing is changing someone's artistic creation
without thier permission. You might have every legal right to recolor a
Van Gogh but it would, imho, be ethically wrong to do so. Films are no differ-
ent.

re .14

_White Christmas_ was the first film to be shot in VistaVision. Paramount
wanted a "safe" (ie moneymaker) film for the introduction of the process.
They intended to reteam Astaire and Crosby in a film that had basically the
same plot as _Holiday Inn_ with some elements of _Blue Skies_ thrown in. 
Astaire and Crosby made a good team in both and both had made a lot of money.
Unfortunatly they couldn't talk Astaire from coming out of his self imposed
retirement (that was done a couple of years later by Gene Kelly and Charles
Waters for _Easter Parade_, Kelly had been set to costar with Judy Garland
until he broke his ankle playing basketball) so they cast Donald O'Connor to
play Astaire's part. Danny Kay replaced O'Conner when he was injured.



Randy

>> but a film noir such as _The Maltese Falcon_ works better in color. When you
    
    I assume you meant "works better in black and white".  Good points
    though.
    
    - Dave

RE .18

Yep, I mistyped it. Absolutly, positively, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt not
a Freudian slip. :^)


Randy

    Someone back there mentioned '...when done well..." re colorization;
    many efforts are NOT done well, ie. dark grey teeth, color
    combinations that were not typical for the period of the film, or for
    that matter, the year it was filmed.  Often, colorization draws your
    attention to the wrong part of the picture, or to the background.
    
    When I watch a movie, I want escape, not distraction.
    
    Carl

    She died on August 30, 1981.  No credits in the movie databases after
    White Christmas.