Holiday (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Two years before stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant and director George Cukor would collaborate on The Philadelphia Story, they brought their timeless talents to this delectable slice of 1930s romantic-comedy perfection, the second film adaptation of a hit 1928 play by Philip Barry. Grant is at his charismatic best as the acrobatically inclined free spirit who, following a whirlwind engagement, literally tumbles into the lives of his fiancée’s aristocratic family—setting up a clash of values with her staid father while firing the rebellious imagination of her brash, black-sheep sister (Hepburn). With a sparkling surface and an undercurrent of melancholy, Holiday is an enchanting ode to nonconformists and pie-in-the-sky dreamers everywhere, as well as a thoughtful reflection on what it truly means to live well. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • Holiday (1930), a previous adaptation of Philip Barry’s play, directed by Edward H. Griffith • New conversation between filmmaker and distributor Michael Schlesinger and film critic Michael Sragow • Audio excerpts from an American Film Institute oral history with director George Cukor, recorded in 1970 and ’71 • Costume gallery • PLUS: An essay by critic Dana Stevens