![\"Christmas](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/melodramaresearchgroup\/files\/2012\/12\/Christmas-Holiday.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe began by examining the film\u2019s flashback structure. While the fractured approach to storytelling was not unusual for the time, especially in film noir, we found the way the film presented the narrative very odd. After the initial framing narrative of Charles Mason (Dean Harens), a Lieutenant on leave who ends up holidaying in New Orleans at Christmas, the main story begins. Jackie (formerly Abigail, played by Deanna Durbin) shares her life story with her new friend Lieutenant Mason. \u00a0She very quickly reveals the reason for her sadness, and her name change: her husband Robert Manette (played by Gene Kelly) is in prison, serving life for murder.<\/p>\n
The fact that Jackie is explicit regarding her husband\u2019s guilt and his crime (though not the motivation for it) so early in the film means that little suspense is created until the shoot-out at the film\u2019s conclusion. Following the first flashback, which shows the consequences of Robert\u2019s crime on family life, further flashbacks are provided. These detail Abigail and Robert\u2019s first meeting, some of their subsequent dates, and Abigail\u2019s While flashbacks and voice-over narration are key to film noir (whether we consider it to be a genre or a cycle) we noted that this lack of suspense did not relate to our experience of the genre\/cycle. It also did not seem especially connected to melodrama\u2019s often used theme of concealment and revelation. Of course, genre is often hybridised and any attempt to categorise a film as belonging to one genre or another based on whether certain elements are present is fairly restrictive. However we found it useful to relate other aspects of the film \u2013 mostly character \u2013 to genre.<\/p>\n It is fairly unusual for film noir to contain a female voice-over, to tell, and to show, the woman\u2019s story. Jackie\/Abigail is also treated sympathetically, partly because the rottenness of Robert is so evident. She is not a femme fatale. Robert\u2019s mother is far more sinister. She is a malevolent presence throughout (even, or perhaps especially, whilst knitting in the background) despite welcoming Abigail as Robert\u2019s last hope of salvation. However after the court case she provides one of the film\u2019s most dramatic moments. She berates Abigail for her weakness, shouting \u2018You killed him\u2019 and The focus on Jackie\/Abigail is highlighted by the trailer\u2019s promotion of \u00a0\u00a0Durbin playing \u2018The Screen\u2019s Greatest Woman\u2019s Role\u2019. This confuses some of the usual (admittedly binary) gender distinctions of noir as being \u00a0\u2018male\u2019 oriented \u00a0\u00a0and melodrama as \u2018female\u2019 focused \u2013 both in terms of character and audience. The melodrama research group has, of course, seen the sheer variety of melodrama over the last year which shows that the narrow view of melodrama as \u2018woman\u2019s weepies\u2019 is highly reductive and unproductive.<\/p>\n Another aspect of the film seemed unusual \u2013 We talked quite a lot about the The extent of Jackie\u2019s suffering \u2013 being forced to turn to prostitution \u2013 is unsurprisingly not made explicit in the film. Hollywood\u2019s Production Code meant that reference to this would not have been allowed by the censors. Somerset Maugham\u2019s novel provided more information and it would be interesting to know just how widely the novel circulated in the United States. The trailer certainly foregrounds Maugham\u2019s involvement. \u00a0We found it fruitful to briefly compare the adaptation of Christmas Holiday<\/i> with Of Human Bondage<\/i> (1934) which we watched at the beginning In terms of specific scenes we noted the connection between the lengthy scene detailing Jackie and Lieutenant Mason\u2019s We also briefly discussed the director Robert Siodmak\u2019s other films. Similarities in\u00a0the plots of\u00a0Christmas Holiday<\/i> and Edgar G. Ulmer\u2019s Detour<\/i> (1945) were mentioned.<\/p>\n If you missed the screening, or would like to rewatch it, you can find it on youtube: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5UFSZay18go<\/a><\/p>\n After the discussion we watched a more festive Christmas film: Mickey\u2019s Christmas Carol<\/i> (1983). Bunny Mattinson\u2019s short film managed to squeeze Charles Dickens\u2019 novel into 20 minutes, but also managed to explore the relation between melodrama and comedy.<\/p>\n Do log in to comment, or email me on sp458@kent.ac.uk<\/a>, to add your thoughts.<\/p>\n Thanks to everyone \u2013 especially Tamar, Ann-Marie and Geoff \u2013 for this week\u2019s entertainment and provisions. Many thanks also to the entire Group for such a productive and fun term. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Posted by Sarah The post-screening discussion focused on several areas:\u00a0 suspense and the theme of concealment and revelation; matters of genre and cycles \u2013 especially film noir and melodrama; the main female character Jackie\/Abigail; the star images of Deanna Durbin … Continue reading <\/a> introduction to Robert\u2019s omnipresent mother (played by Gale Sondergaard). Suspense would have been generated by just a slight reticence on Jackie\u2019s part regarding the reason for her distressed state and a reordering of the flashbacks so that they occurred largely chronologically: the first date, subsequent dates, the revelation of Robert\u2019s guilt etc.<\/p>\n<\/a>slapping her in the face. This is not just dramatic but inaccurate – Robert is soon to be sentenced to life imprisonment, but not to death. It also seems unfair on Abigail when it is clear that Robert\u2019s life has been heavily influenced by his unhealthily close relationship to his mother. This point is also stated in the voice-over when Jackie reveals that it was described by a psychiatrist as \u2018pathological\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/a>for both noir and melodrama. The film\u2019s ending is rather hopeful. The recently widowed Jackie\/Abigail looks to a sky in which the clouds are parting and there is a suggestion that she might find love with the supportive Lieutenant. \u00a0We related this optimism to Durbin\u2019s star image. Given her hitherto fairly uncomplicated star image of a happy young girl who likes to sing it is noteworthy that this film allowed her to play two roles: the generally happy young wife and the woman ground down by life\u2019s disappointments. Due to the flashback structure these were juxtaposed throughout the film, allowing for the foregrounding of Durbin\u2019s performance. This means that after our first introduction to Jackie we are continually reminded of her \u2018earlier\u2019 self and of Durbin\u2019s \u2018earlier\u2019 screen self \u2013 a happy young girl in love.<\/p>\n<\/a>Gene Kelly\u2019s star image was also discussed. While today we primarily associate him with song-and-dance roles, contemporary audiences saw him in a variety of roles before Christmas Holiday<\/i>. These included musicals (Du Barry Was a Lady<\/i> 1943) and dramas (For Me and My Girl<\/i> 1942, Pilot #5<\/i> 1943, The Cross of Lorraine<\/i> 1943). \u00a0(This information on the films\u2019 genres is courtesy of the American Film Institute Catalog and notes some films as \u2018with songs\u2019 rather than as musicals: http:\/\/www.afi.com\/members\/catalog\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/a>film\u2019s costumes, especially Durbin\u2019s wardrobe. She begins the film wearing a very glamorous and grown-up evening dress. This is striking as it is our first view of Jackie \u2013 and indeed of the \u2018new\u2019 Durbin. This is delayed, first by the framing narrative and then by the fact that Jackie\/Durbin is first glimpsed with her back to the camera, making her way to the stage to perform a song. \u00a0Her next outfit was especially memorable. As Jackie and the Lieutenant sit talking in a caf\u00e9 she is dressed in a light coloured trench coat and coordinating hat. Perhaps because of the film\u2019s noirish elements, this reminded us of the detective figure in many 1940s films, and specifically of Humphrey Bogart. It is an especially interesting costume choice as this relation to the male star who played the protagonist of several noirs also <\/a>seems to place Jackie centrally. The wisecracking comments made by both Robert and Jackie were commented on. They reminded us of another film pair at times \u2013 Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Though it was notable that they did not interact in this way with each other since only Jackie, and not Abigail, has been made cynical by her experience.<\/p>\n<\/a>of term. The earlier, pre-code film, was able to mention Mildred\u2019s descent into prostitution. \u00a0There is a key similarity, however.\u00a0 Both adaptations extract just a small part of the novel, notably the part which deals more with the couple \u2013 which often occupies a main position in Hollywood films during the Studio Era.<\/p>\n<\/a>attendance at midnight mass and the Abigail\u2019s earlier (though shown later in the film) first meeting with Robert in a cavernous concert hall. In the church Jackie is sobbing\u2026 we took this as a reference to her feelings of guilt. However she assures the Lieutenant that she is not crying for the reason that he (and perhaps we) think. The Concert hall scene later shows what Jackie had been crying about \u2013 her memory of Robert.<\/p>\n