JohnHowardReid Director: DON HARTMAN. Screenplay: Isobel Lennart. Based on a story, "Christmas Gift", and a novelette called "The Man Who Played Santa Claus" by John D. Weaver. Photography: Milton Krasner. Film editor: Harry Marker. Art directors: Albert D'Agostino and Carroll Clark. Set decorators: Darrell Silvera and William Stevens. Miss Leigh's costumes: Howard Greer. Music composed by Roy Webb, directed by Constantin Bakaleinikoff. Hair styles: Larry Germain. Make-up: James House. Assistant director: Sam Ruman. Sound: Frank Sarver and Clem Portman. Producer: Don Hartman.Copyright 23 November 1949 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. U.S. release: 24 December 1949. New York release at Loew's State: 23 November 1949. U.K. release: 6 February 1950. Australian release: 6 April 1950. Sydney release at the Esquire: 10 March 1950. Australian length: 7,943 feet (88 minutes). U.K. length: 7,812 feet (87 minutes).SYNOPSIS: Comparison shopper inadvertently gets toy salesman fired from New York department store. Salesman romances shopper and her six-year-old son.COMMENT: A slight little Christmas romance with a foregone conclusion that seemed a lot more entertaining and engrossing back in 1950 than it does now. Admittedly, the two principal characterizations are fairly intriguing - Mitchum is likeably off-beat at first but becomes more conventionally outspoken as the film progresses; Miss Leigh's profession is refreshingly original - but the rest of the players are handicapped by their strictly clichéd roles, particularly Wendell Corey's stuffy attorney and Gordon Gebert's gap-toothed wonder. The players are not helped by direction that only comes to life with fluid camerawork in some of the crowd scenes, elsewhere letting the cast and the dialogue do all the work in a series of long takes. The dialogue is occasionally witty or pointed but mostly it and the situations are dull to the point of boredom. Even the episode in the police station which could have been fairly amusing seems somewhat strained as Henry Morgan makes heavy weather out of rather thin clouds. Miss Leigh looked good to indulgent males in 1950, but Father Time has stripped a lot of her illusion away, forcing her to rely on a charm and personality that is otherwise blandly inadequate. Photography and other credits are capable enough - even occasionally attractive. A Holiday Affair also has some historical interest as Mitchum's first starring essay into the field of romantic comedy and it must be admitted that he handled the lightweight part with a professional flair of delightful nonchalance (when he wasn't buried under sticky dialogue of the sentimental kind). However, despite mildly enthusiastic reviews and a domestic release that coincided with Christmas, Mitchum's fans were unimpressed and A Holiday Affair added little to RKO's coffers. It was not until his final RKO film, She Couldn't Say No (1954) that Mitchum was again cast in a comedy.

digger437 This movie is a must see every Christmas. It's charm is due in large part to actor Gordon Gebert, who plays Timmy Ennis. There are movies that are good, but you just hate the kids. For example Mitchum's son in River of No Return or the boy in Last Action Hero. Were they the producer's nephews? You just don't like them and it taints the movie. Gebert however is as lovable as Peter Billingsly (Ralphie) in Christmas Story.While Mitchum was terrific as always, I was also very impressed with Wendell Corey's performance and wry wit. His "Is that so?" scene with Mitchum was genius.The writing was excellent. If I had to find a flaw with this film, it would have to be the directors reluctance for retakes. There were scenes where Timmy did flub a line or two, but were left in.

morrison-dylan-fan Looking back at my record in 2010,and seeing that I only watched one Christmas-themed film that year (the likable Elf),I felt that for this year,I should really try to get hold of some "X-mas classics" which I had never seen before.Whilst searching on Amazon Uk for some of the more well known titles,I suddenly got a rec from the site for a film that I had never heard of before.Checking the cast,and seeing that "The King of Noir" and Norman Bates favourite Blonde had starring roles in the film,made this sound like the perfect start for my Christmas classics viewings.The plot:Struggleing to makes ends meet for her and her young son,(who both have also been trying to deal with the death of their husband/father in the war)Connie Ennis decides to become a "comparison shopper" for a big company,with her main job being to buy one of a rival stores "big sellers",and return it the very next day,after the "comparison shopper" company has gotten all of the details about the item.For her latest fact-finding mission,Connie has been told to pick up a toy train set,which has become one of The must-have toys of the year.Interupting the stores toy seller Steve Mason from his latest demo of the toy.Ennis quickly makes a run for it after getting the set,due to Mason getting suspicious of her.Arriving home,Connie tries and fails from hiding the set from her son Timmy,whose sneaky look at the toy,starts to get him excited in receiving it as his main Christmas present.After getting a refund for the toy,Ennis is shocked when she runs into Steve Mason,and discovers that he has been fired due to refunding her!Wanting to cheer him up a little,Connie spends the whole day with Steve,until they are separated by rush hour traffic.Returning home,Ennis starts to plan spending Christmas with her son,and her long-term patient boyfriend Carl Davis. With Davis and Timmy each ready to take Connie out for a special meal,they are all stopped in their tracks when Steve Mason suddenly appears.Arriving with some items he had picked up with Ennis,Steve starts to relax,and attempts to introduce himself to her son Timmy and her now very uneasy boyfriend Carl. View on the film:When checking the DVD case to this film,my initial excitement for the movie experienced a bit of a drop,when I discovered that along with Mitchum and Leigh the film featured that old chestnut the slowly kills off any TV Comedy series:a kid.Impressively,child actor Gordon Gebert avoids most of those pit falls by making the character pretty balanced,with Timmy never completely becoming an "aw shucks" kid,or an annoying little brat,but instead walking that fine line of being in between.Looking at the rest of the strong cast,Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh show a very natural chemistry,with the scenes of Leigh and Mitchum spending the day together,allowing for Robert to show a pretty under rated comedic side with his very good dialogue delivery.Although Leigh and Mitchum do take centre stage in the film,Wendell Corey (who,like Leigh would work with director Alfred Hitchcock on the movie Rear Window and an episode of Hitchcocks TV show)is able to steal some of the films best scenes thanks to performing Connie's ambitious lawyer boyfriend role with a real relish.Whilst the cast do their best to cover up the cracks in Isobel "This Could Be The Night" Lennart's screenplay,some of the 'cracks' in the film are sadly left open,with Connie's job of being a "comparison shopper" for a company not having even the smallest appearance of someone from the company who she works for. (which could have been a nice little role for a character actor)And with the second half of the film hinting that the life of Mitchum's character is more troubled then it originally seemed (such as him being homeless),the film sadly leaves most of that mood behind,with the final moments of the film being a chase to a train station. Final view on the film:A very enjoyable,flawed Christmas Comedy-Drama,with great performances from the whole cast.

Ed Uyeshima The backstory behind the casting of this modest 1949 holiday chestnut is far more intriguing than the romantic roundelay that occurs on screen. At the time, Howard Hughes was the head of RKO Studios and insisted on casting Robert Mitchum in an atypical role as a light romantic lead in response to a tabloid scandal brewing after the actor was sent to prison for marijuana possession. Meanwhile, Hughes was also determined to make Janet Leigh his latest sexual conquest by borrowing her from MGM for this starring role only to be rebuffed later when she eventually fell for Tony Curtis. Nonetheless, both stars beat the odds of their contrived circumstances and display a definite chemistry in this post-WWII Christmas tale. Leigh plays Connie Ennis, a young war widow with a six-year-old son named Timmy. She makes a living as an undercover comparison shopper, and as part of her job, has to buy an $80 model train from a competitive department store. Mitchum plays Steve Mason, the toy salesman who suspects something is afoul in the expedient way she buys the train with no questions asked.When she brings it home, Timmy is excited about the prospect of getting a train set for Christmas but quickly becomes disappointed when he realizes it's not his present. Meanwhile, standing in the wings is Carl Davis, a steady-minded lawyer who has been smitten with Connie for years and keeps pressing her to marry him. She hems and haws because there are no real sparks between them, but she is tempted by the financial security he can bring to her and Timmy's lives. When Connie returns the expensive model train the next day, Steve gets fired for not turning her in as a comparison shopper. Feeling guilty, she agrees to have lunch with him in the park. Needless to say, sparks start to occur when he shares his dream of going to California to become a boat builder (shades of "The Shawshank Redemption"), but they lose each other trying to catch a crowded bus. He tracks her down at home celebrating Christmas with Carl and her in-laws. Connie is forced to choose between the two men, and there isn't much suspense on what the outcome will be. The interesting Oedipal twist to the story, however, is how Connie views Timmy as a living tribute to her dead husband and how his specter competes with her suitors.Even though it seems like Mitchum is slumming relative to the classic noir films he was making at the time, his laconic manner and brazen honesty are exactly what this trifle of a movie needs to give it a recognizable pulse. There is a certain joy in watching him grow attracted to Connie knowing that the malevolence of "The Night of the Hunter" and "Cape Fear" was ahead of him. Long before she found herself terrorized in a shower in "Psycho", Leigh is plucky enough as she exudes her girl-next-door image while displaying a most prominent rack. Wendell Corey is saddled with the wet-rag role of Carl, but at least he manages to maintain his dignity against the overwhelming impact of Mitchum's charisma. As Timmy, Gordon Gebert is that rare child actor who comes across like a real kid without looking overly affected, and he provides the movie's most touching scenes, especially the one where he attempts to return the train to the store. Harry Morgan, who just died at age 96, has a few funny moments as a sardonic night-court judge. The print on the 2008 DVD doesn't show signs of restoration, and there are no extras.