Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson
If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play "La Morte in Vacanza" by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained.
[Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.
To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but naïve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.
More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.
(Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk)
In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.
(Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net)
I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line "The Weirdest Love Story ever told!" (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts.
(Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org)
See also the remake: Death Takes A Holiday (1971)
说实话，拍的不赖，能看出导演是个很熟悉西部片的人，而且其中大量剪辑和镜头很有致敬昆丁的意思
[视]黑人电影，歌片，黑人牛仔，有种美国横店+百老汇的感觉，时长偏长，动作戏不及预期。征服者康，海姆达尔，小丑邻居多米诺，X战警达尔文
这片子太酷了 无论从人物造型 配乐 还是分镜镜头的运用 都太合我口味了 每次出枪都那么出人意料 我认为这就是今年最佳西部片
因为和我的境遇和性格太相像了于是给四颗 但是作为一个电影来说感觉拍摄层次和内涵还是有点浅有点表面
额…………节奏混乱，剧情不知所措，剪辑凌乱，槽点太多。导演是个昆汀迷。
全黑人卡司，只能说，又是zzzq的产物，还来个那么俗烂、狗血的结局，抵消了并不多的优点。（看乔纳森·梅杰斯最近演的作品，要放以前，他这条件可能连戏都接不到）
black cowboy，黑人族群的自我颅内高潮，这片男主能提上奥斯卡有点过了
多一颗星给娜塔莉，太美了😍但男女主角没有火花，不搭。整个片子很青春，歌也很好听。甜甜甜
西部爽片，前面太拖沓，好在高潮戏还行，给个及格分吧。
道具服装气氛都是我贼喜欢的那种西部风，但是剧情太拉跨了……既然大家都这么公平从来不背后开枪，那不如举办一个运动会来解决矛盾？
真的很好看啊！！
如果说新版《豪勇七蛟龙》是黑人导演想要创建西部世界的一个黑人英雄，这部片子可以说是创造了黑人世界的西部英雄，多彩夸张的服化道，一首接着一首的灵魂爵士，戏谑幽默的对话，黑人元素和西部元素有趣大胆且成功地融合在一起。最后两个女角色不用枪用肉搏简直就是Youtube黑人大姐打架录影👍我对导演不熟，看了简介知道他也是歌手出身，上一次让我惊叹能把黑人音乐天赋和电影融合的是50美分的《权欲》，不过，结尾虽说是反传统，但是也是忒老的反传统了，我还是想看最后好好来个对决的的。所以这个地方我得扣一星。结尾的画面拉长，有种过去幕布看电影的感觉，似乎人物挥之欲出却又再画面上独自飞奔，挺有意思。对于一些看到黑人演西部片就觉得不对味儿的观众，我想说，西部片不属于白人，它应该属于每一个勇于探索，热爱旷野的灵魂。
如果没有那该死的兄弟认亲，我可能会给五星，跳脱出框架的西部片，画面很漂亮，配乐真的是俘获我心，至于黑人是否牛逼，i dont care。
导演或编剧绝对是港片迷。几首曲子也配得特别好。
换成黑人演刺激多了。
漫威和索尼就拍了个这？！剧情大无语，而且还拍的乱七八糟，要说第一部还有一点惊喜，第二部真的就是强行狗尾续貂的感觉。鸡言鸡语和片尾彩蛋的小蜘蛛还算亮点（引出无家可归），另外Anne和Dan表现还不错，除此之外好像没什么值得说的地方了。整个反派设定也乱七八糟，连着看了几部Woody Harrelson的烂片之后真是快有PTSD了…反正就挺可惜的吧，挺好的一个系列，还是不希望就这么断了（坑都挖了这么多了）…
African American没有毛病好吧
除了几次打架和片尾彩蛋，其他真是没眼看，什么乱七八糟的
10.6 Edinburgh film house. LFF #1 开幕片。网飞级调色，近年来流行的娱乐性暴力美学，作为娱乐片还可以，但是正脸大特写好多啊。配乐可以。
介于"很差"和"比较差"之间，打三星纯属出于对寄生类题材毫无道理的喜爱…… 反派女朋友反水反的莫名其妙，说了别用她的噪音能力，非要用，最后被打了来一句"这太过分了"，就开始攻击屠杀了…您还记得自己的男朋友在里面吗？ 毒液和Eddie的感情线也好尴尬，因为理念不合产生的矛盾还没深入说明就被"屠杀要来了我们赶紧和好"的前女友彩虹屁和一通不走心的道歉给盖过去了，同人文都比这写得好！ 反派就不说了，念诗工具人罢了（友善微笑）
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