One of the most important pictures of the month is " The Devil's Holiday ". If you like a real story humanly acted and shorn of wisecracks and musical comedy, I'm sure you will respond warmly -- and even tearfully-- to this. And if you admire Nancy Carroll as I do -- and I have many companions in enthusiasm -- you will applaud her even more than before on the strength of a realistic, beautifully modulated portrayal. Miss Carroll is every inch a star, not only in billing but in performance.
Although my copy of " the Devil's Holiday " is far from the best, I am extremely happy to have a copy of this important Nancy Carroll film. Nancy's portrayal of the venal manicurist Hallie Hobart is among her finest performances and I highly recommend this movie to any Nancy Carroll fan. I recommend it even more highly to anyone not fortunate enough to already be a Nancy Carroll fan.
The role of Hallie was one of Nancy's first which did not require her to sing, dance or wear skimpy outfits. Nancy's performance is truly superb and more than worthy of her Academy Award nomination for Best Performance by an actress. It's no secret that Nancy was a close second in the voting. As I've previously mentioned elsewhere at this site, Nancy was beaten out by Norma Shearer, who just so happened to be married to the powerful Irving Thalberg at the time. Many believe Norma's win was directly related to her union with Thalberg.
Any question as to whether or not Nancy could handle meaty, dramatic roles should have been answered by this performance, but at the very least, Nancy proved once and for all she was an extremely versatile and talented actress. The role of Hallie rescued Nancy from being typecast as a light-weight musical comedy chorine. Even so, the better dramatic roles did not necessarily come her way despite her recognition by the Motion Picture Academy.
~ The Storyline ~ ** Don't read if you do not want to know the outcome of the movie.
Hallie Hobart, a self-made woman, earns her living exchanging pleasure for treasure. She decides to marry a naive suitor(David) in retaliation for an insult hurled at her by David's brother. Hallie knows David's family will never accept the union, and will pay handsomely for her to quickly disappear. And that's her plan. All goes well, however, after Hallie is paid to leave David, she returns to her "new" life and quickly discovers she no longer derives any pleasure from it. As a result, she slips into a life of partying, drinking and depression. In the meantime, David, who had been seriously injured trying to defend Hallie's honor,isn't mending. The doctor is convinced only Hallie's return will cure David. Eventually Hallie realizes she truly does love David and sells off all her possessions in effort to return the money she had been paid by his family. Returning to David's home, she begs for forgiveness from his family. Because of their desire to see David well again, and Hallie's sincerity, she wins them over. In melodramatic fashion, Hallie rushes to David's room and into his arms. The audience is left knowing everyone is going to live happily ever after.