Strange Holiday (1945 film)

Last updated
Strange Holiday
StrangeHoliday.poster.jpg
Theatrical poster for the film
Directed by Arch Oboler
Written byArch Oboler (radio play and screenplay)
Starring Claude Rains
Cinematography Robert L. Surtees
Edited by Fred R. Feitshans Jr.
Production
companies
Elite Pictures
General Motors
Distributed by Producers Releasing Corporation
Release date
  • October 19, 1945 (1945-10-19)
Running time
61 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Strange Holiday is a 1945 American movie directed by Arch Oboler. Claude Rains features as a man who returns from a fishing vacation to find America controlled by fascists.

Contents

Introductory material included with the video release of this movie states that it was underwritten by General Motors corporation and was shown initially in private screenings for the corporation's employees.

Martin Kosleck, a German actor who had played a Nazi or Nazi sympathizer in numerous American movies during the Second World War, is featured prominently as a local authority of the new oppressive regime. The new government makes prominent and continual use of an emblem consisting of two crossed swords over two fascist bundles (a bundle of rods with an axe: the pre-Nazi symbol for fascism) in much the way the Swastika had been employed by Nazi Germany.

Plot

The story is told as a flashback of Stevenson, who is being tortured in a chair, reflecting how he got there.

Stevenson and three children decorate the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. Then, he is flying in his friend's small plane to a fishing and camping holiday with an old friend in a remote area. Afterwards, they head home on Friday the 13th. Flying back, the plane develops problems and they crash-land in a field in a remote location. At the farmhouse, the farmer refuses to let them in and use the phone. A truck driver also acts oddly but gives Stevenson a lift into his town for $20. The driver also declines to explain his hostile behaviour. The main street is devoid of people. Stevenson meets Miss Simms, his secretary, but she does not want to talk. When he goes to his office, it is deserted. He meets the building manager, Regan, who says they thought Stevenson was dead, but will not explain why the business is not operating.

Stevenson goes to his house and cannot find his wife and children there. Two men grab him; when he refuses to go with them he is coshed. He awakes in jail, where another prisoner gives him water and tells him that the American Constitution has been changed by those now in charge. Stevenson is called to an examiner to explain where he has been and who he has met. He is refused a lawyer. He is tied to a table and beaten. The examiner then explains the new America: no religion; no free speech; punishment for non-conformity. Stevenson is declared an enemy of the state. In his cell, he ponders on this new world order. When he sleeps, he dreams of an alternative future and sees a picnic with another family; his daughter has grown up and is being courted. When he wakes, he decides he does not want to keep living in this new world.

The scene then fades out to Stevenson waking from a nap while still camping with his friend. The whole story was a bad dream.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<i>Mr. Skeffington</i> 1944 film by Vincent Sherman

Mr. Skeffington is a 1944 American drama film directed by Vincent Sherman, based on the 1940 novel of the same name by Elizabeth von Arnim.

<i>People Will Talk</i> 1951 film by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

People Will Talk is a 1951 American romantic comedy/drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck from a screenplay by Mankiewicz, based on the German play by Curt Goetz, which was made into a movie in Germany. Released by Twentieth Century Fox, it stars Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain, with supporting performances by Hume Cronyn, Finlay Currie, Walter Slezak and Sidney Blackmer.

Griffin (<i>The Invisible Man</i>) Titular fictional character from H.G. Wells novella The Invisible Man

Griffin, also known as the Invisible Man, is a fictional character who first appeared as the protagonist of H. G. Wells' 1897 science fiction novel The Invisible Man. In the original work, Griffin is a scientist whose research in optics and experiments into changing the human body's refractive index to that of air results in him becoming invisible. After becoming invisible, he wraps his head in bandages and dons a pair of goggles or glasses in order to enable others to see him. Unable to reverse the invisibility process, he descends into insanity and becomes a criminal.

<i>Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man</i> 1951 comedy horror film directed by Charles Lamont

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man is a 1951 American science fiction comedy film directed by Charles Lamont and starring the team of Abbott and Costello alongside Nancy Guild.

<i>The Dark Mirror</i> (1946 film) 1946 film by Robert Siodmak

The Dark Mirror is a 1946 American film noir psychological thriller film directed by Robert Siodmak starring Olivia de Havilland as twins and Lew Ayres as their psychiatrist. The film marks Ayres' return to motion pictures following his conscientious objection to service in World War II. De Havilland had begun to experiment with method acting at the time and insisted that everyone in the cast meet with a psychiatrist. The film anticipates producer/screenwriter Nunnally Johnson's psycho-docu-drama The Three Faces of Eve (1957). Vladimir Pozner's original story on which the film is based was nominated for an Academy Award.

<i>Tales from the Hood</i> 1995 American horror anthology film

Tales from the Hood is a 1995 American horror anthology film directed by Rusty Cundieff. The film presents four short urban-themed horror stories based on problem concepts that affect the African-American community in the order of police corruption, domestic abuse, racism, and gang violence, all presented within a frame story of three drug dealers buying some "found" drugs from an eccentric and story-prone funeral director.

<i>Confessions of a Nazi Spy</i> 1939 film

Confessions of a Nazi Spy is a 1939 American spy political thriller film directed by Anatole Litvak for Warner Bros. It was the first explicitly anti-Nazi film to be produced by a major Hollywood studio, being released in May 1939, four months before the beginning of World War II and two and a half years before the United States' entry into the war.

<i>Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back</i> 1995 American martial arts film

Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back is a 1995 martial arts action film directed by the film's star Phillip Rhee. It is the second sequel in the Best of the Best film series. The film co-stars Christopher McDonald, Gina Gershon, Dee Wallace and an uncredited R. Lee Ermey and an uncredited Michele Bartlett. Rhee's Tommy Lee returns to his small hometown to find it under siege by a neo-Nazi gang whose leader is played by Mark Rolston.

<i>The Last Outpost</i> (1935 film) 1935 adventure film by Charles Barton

The Last Outpost is a 1935 American adventure film directed by Charles Barton and Louis J. Gasnier and written by Charles Brackett, Frank Partos and Philip MacDonald. It is based on F. Britten Austin's novel The Drum. The film stars Cary Grant, Claude Rains, Gertrude Michael, Kathleen Burke, Colin Tapley, Margaret Swope and Billy Bevan. The film was released on October 11, 1935, by Paramount Pictures.

<i>They Made Me a Criminal</i> 1939 film

They Made Me a Criminal is a 1939 American crime-drama film directed by Busby Berkeley and starring John Garfield, Claude Rains, and The Dead End Kids. It is a remake of the film The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933). The film later was featured in an episode of Cinema Insomnia. Portions of the film were shot in the Coachella Valley, California.

<i>The Frozen Ghost</i> 1945 film by Harold Young

The Frozen Ghost is a 1945 American film noir mystery film starring Lon Chaney Jr., Elena Verdugo, Evelyn Ankers, Tala Birell, and Martin Kosleck, and directed by Harold Young. It is the fourth of the six "Inner Sanctum" mystery films.

<i>Nazi Agent</i> 1942 film by Jules Dassin

Nazi Agent is a 1942 American spy film directed by Jules Dassin, in his first feature-length film for MGM. It stars Conrad Veidt playing identical twins, one loyal to the United States (U.S.), the other a dedicated German Nazi.

<i>Espionage Agent</i> 1939 film

Espionage Agent is a pre–World War II spy melodrama produced by Hal B. Wallis in 1939. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, Espionage Agent, like many Warner Bros. movies, clearly identifies the Germans as the enemy. This was unlike many other movie studios during this period that did not want to antagonize foreign governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Kosleck</span> German actor (1904–1994)

Martin Kosleck was a German film actor. Like many other German actors, he fled when the Nazis came to power. Inspired by his deep hatred of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, Kosleck made a career in Hollywood playing villainous Nazis in films. While in the United States, he appeared in more than 80 films and television shows in a 46-year span. His icy demeanor and piercing stare on screen made him a popular choice to play Nazi villains. He portrayed Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister, five times, and also appeared as an SS trooper and a concentration camp officer.

<i>Castle on the Hudson</i> 1940 film by Anatole Litvak

Castle on the Hudson is a 1940 American film noir drama directed by Anatole Litvak and starring John Garfield, Ann Sheridan, and Pat O'Brien. A thief is sent to Sing Sing Prison, where he is befriended by the reform-minded warden. The film was based on the book Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing, written by Lewis E. Lawes, on whom the warden in the film was based. Castle on the Hudson was actually a remake of an earlier Spencer Tracy prison film, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932), also based on Lawes's book.

<i>Stolen Holiday</i> 1937 film by Michael Curtiz

Stolen Holiday is a 1937 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Kay Francis, Claude Rains and Ian Hunter. It is loosely based on the Stavisky Affair, a French political scandal. A Russian con artist digs his way into the upper reaches of French society, but is finally exposed, with tragic consequences.

<i>Kill the Irishman</i> 2011 film by Jonathan Hensleigh

Kill the Irishman is a 2011 American biographical crime film directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, and starring Ray Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Christopher Walken, and Val Kilmer. Written by Hensleigh and Jeremy Walters, it is based on the life of the Irish-American gangster Danny Greene, and was adapted from the book To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia by Rick Porrello.

<i>Black Hand</i> (1950 film) 1950 film by Richard Thorpe

Black Hand is a 1950 American film noir directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Gene Kelly as an Italian immigrant fighting against the Black Hand extortion racket in New York City in the first decade of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Regan</span> American racing driver

Thomas Regan is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Silverado for TJL Motorsports in 2018.

Judgment at Nuremberg (<i>Playhouse 90</i>) 28th episode of the 3rd season of Playhouse 90

"Judgment at Nuremberg" is an American television play broadcast live on April 16, 1959, as part of the CBS television series, Playhouse 90. It was a courtroom drama written by Abby Mann and directed by George Roy Hill that depicts the trial of four German judicial officials as part of the Nuremberg trials. Claude Rains starred as the presiding judge with Maximilian Schell as the defense attorney, Melvyn Douglas as the prosecutor, and Paul Lukas as the former German Minister of Justice.