''Holiday Affair'' is a 1949

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed and produced by

Don Hartman Samuel Donald Hartman (18 November 1900, New York - 23 March 1958, Palm Springs, California) was an American screenwriter and director and former production head of Paramount Pictures. He and Stephen Morehouse Avery were nominated for the Acade ...

and starring

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

and

Janet Leigh Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, ...

. It was based on the story ''Christmas Gift'' by John D. Weaver, which was also the film's

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

. The film allowed Mitchum to briefly depart from his typical roles in film noir,

Western films Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

and

war films War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war f ...

, and his casting was intended to help rehabilitate his image following a notorious marijuana bust. A

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...

remake, also titled '' Holiday Affair'', was produced in 1996.

Plot

Steve Mason, a veteran seeking to go to Southern California to build sailboats, is employed as a salesman during the Christmas season at Crowley's, a New York department store. Connie Ennis is a comparative shopper for a rival store, and hurriedly buys an expensive toy train set from him without asking a single question about it. That night, her son Timmy becomes excited when he peeks at what he thinks is his present, only to be disappointed when his mother sets him straight. When Connie seeks a refund on the train set the next day, Steve reveals he had suspected her all along and says that he should see to it that her identity is posted everywhere, which would lose her her job. She explains that she is a war widow with a son to support. Steve apologizes and refunds her money, a gesture that costs him his job. In spite of this, the laid-back Steve invites Connie to lunch - which turns out to be hot dogs with the seals in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

. Afterward, Steve helps her complete her shopping. They become separated boarding a bus, but Steve manages to wheedle her home address out of her employer and shows up there, being introduced to the "man of the house" - her son - and her longtime steady suitor, lawyer Carl Davis. Timmy and Steve get acquainted. When Timmy gets belligerent with Carl, instead of disciplining Timmy, she instead insults Carl, who immediately leaves. On Christmas morning, Timmy discovers the train set outside the apartment door. He assumes that his mother bought it for him after all. When Connie realizes it was Steve's doing, she seeks him out and tries to reimburse him. He refuses her money, saying that he wants to encourage Timmy to believe that sometimes dreams actually come true. After giving Steve a tie she had originally bought for Carl, Connie reveals that she is marrying Carl on New Year's Day. Steve tells her that she does not want any changes in her life, and that Timmy is the man of the house when he ought to be a little boy. Steve challenges her for "settling", living in the past, and being afraid to love again. Annoyed, Connie returns home. After Carl arrives at Connie's, a policeman asks Connie to go to the station; Steve has been picked up on suspicion of mugging a man. She, Steve and Timmy, who refuses to stay home, go there. In the chaos that unfolds, Carl offers to represent Steve, to help him depart post haste for California. Connie confirms she was with Steve at the time of the robbery, but in doing so, some interesting facts emerge that unsettle Carl. Freed, Steve is invited to an uneasy Christmas dinner, where he openly announces that, while Carl is a fine man, he thinks that Connie should marry him instead. She asks him to leave. The next day, Timmy, who had learned at the station that Steve is broke and jobless, steals away to return the train set to get the money back to Steve. He eventually gets to tell his story to the store's owner, Mr. Crowley. Crowley gives Timmy a refund and a ride home to his distraught mother. Timmy gives Connie the money, and she and Carl drive to the rooming house where Steve is staying to give it to him. When Connie asks Carl to see Steve by himself, Carl presents the facts of the "divorce case" of ''Ennis versus Davis'', from which he concludes that Connie does not love him. Connie then goes in alone, but is rebuffed by Steve, who declines to propose again, saying he cannot compete against her dead husband, to whom she is still true, and he informs her he has booked passage on '' the Midnight Special'' leaving on New Year's Eve. Later, as Connie prepares to go alone to a New Year's Eve party, Timmy tells her he is growing up quickly, and that it will not be very long before he is married, leaving her all alone. After thinking it over, she says they have some "fast packing" to do. They then race to the station, to reunite with Steve. As their train leaves, it turns into a toy train.

Cast

Reception

The '' Brooklyn Eagle'' found it a "mildly pleasant, unpretentious romantic comedy...that strikes a vague but teasingly familiar note as it unfolds." After citing the New York setting around the Christmas holiday, and the importance of a large department store, the review said these would likely bring to mind ''

Miracle on 34th Street ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (initially released as ''The Big Heart'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1947 American Christmas comedy-drama film released by 20th Century Fox, written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davi ...

'' (1947), with the film "wending an amiable but unimaginative way toward a foregone climax."Sheaffer, Lew. "Screen: Berle's Made to Order Vehicle; Mitchum Wraps Up 'Holiday Affair'." Brooklyn Eagle, 25 November 1949. The film recorded a loss of $300,000.Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, ''The RKO Story.'' New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p234

Notes

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