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)
Cora阿姨，我会一直follow你到The end！
完美的剧本，一条线搞新事业，一条线微悬疑，不再折腾主角团情缘。最感动的是编剧孜孜不倦、不遗余力誓要为每个人找到完美归宿，真是再粉丝友好不过了，使得最终的感伤也没那么难接受。大小姐这次终于有岁月痕迹了，听到她提起大表哥，哎，想起第一季末和圣诞特辑，雪夜大厅，她自楼梯而下，执手凝望，终于喷薄而出的感情，那是最美好的时光了。
四星有两星都是感情分。前一个小时那叫一个剪得乱和着急，但是让人又哭又笑也是少有的本事。I hope you will be as happy as our cruel world allows. 👏🏼
最泪目的那一段台词：Jonathan的音乐剧演出之后，没有业内人士愿意投资，Jonathan问经纪人，“我该怎么做？” 经纪人回复说，“你开始写下一部剧，写完了就再写一部。剧作家的生涯就是，连续不断的写作。你得一直投稿，希望最终能有回应。” 作为半个同行，简直太有共鸣了，无数次撞墙，无数次自我怀疑，依然还要忍受痛苦坚持写下去，因为放弃自己的天赋才是最大的悲剧。
【B+】不负期待😚加菲的歌喉让人印象深刻了！
情怀单独加一星，一个时代的落幕，希望Barrow真的找到了好伴侣，唐顿真是少有的这些时代剧里拍得又精致可看性又高的作品了，最像老夫人的还是Mary啊。马修这个老公也太不靠谱了。谁能不为参与到一部电影的拍摄而激动！
哭了。发现时间是以人为标记的，故事里我们总希望时间节点不要来。奶奶是个有故事的人。
为唐顿哭已经不是一次两次了，但这大概是最后一次。
唐顿庄园角色三千，我却独宠Thomas一个（好吧其实Tom也挺帅的）
就像是回老家拜访老邻居，聊聊天说说话，看看这几年他们过的好不好，那时候还在地上蹒跚学步的小孩有没有长高，家里老人身体是不是还硬朗。。。
又是一个终于给看了，最大的感慨是大家都老了。努力呈现了一些之前已经忘记的设定唤起每个人的行为动机。其实主线是老夫人和Mary共同演绎婚姻生活的真实。
有人向往着脱离贫困的新生活，
唐顿，本质上是个大俗剧，双双对对匹配好的格局加上精心修饰的风波。然而人如故友，故而希望他们一切安好。
2比1有趣诶，看着看着发现老夫人是真的要去世了，提到马修猝不及防但是，马修真的是玛丽唯一真爱吧。再拍就又要打仗了，应该不会再拍了吧。看到最后的葬礼，一下子想起看唐顿故事有十几年了诶，故事中的新时代真的开启了，故事外的观众也能接受结局了。
感觉演员们都老了，旧的人离去，新生命降临，有声电影必然淘汰掉默片，新时代的来临，每个人都找到了幸福的归属
终于，全都结束了（看的居然是未删节Tomas剧情的版本，非常喜欢老妇人最后一句话，幽默、饱满、没有遗憾，也让还不能接纳死亡的我无比伤感）
看完唐顿庄园，想想一百年前我们的国民在做什么，再看看当前的生活，不由感叹：这些英国贵族命大，没有摊上革命。
虽然婚礼开场葬礼结束，还是留了一个标准的新生命诞生做尾声。老太太的去世因为太顺理成章，反而比任何狗血的戏剧冲突更显悲伤。“在他们看来，女性通常是两种形象，要么邪恶，要么愚蠢，而你最好让人以为你是前者。”金句老太太最后还是变成了挂在墙上的一副肖像画。
我们总也无法打败时间，我们永远逃不脱这时代，但我们仍拥有些感动，这感动永存，对吗？
纪念今年疫情以来第一次的电影院观影，第一次看唐顿庄园，看到了一些留学时熟悉的old fashion的英国人，里面每个角色都很美好，一点本土英剧的影子都看不到，本土剧对于我来说是eastenders和cornation street的残酷和狗血，但残酷里又有每日的生活，live like British!
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