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)
粤语场。难以客观评价的一部电影，而且纪念意义远大于商业意义。优缺点都很明显，不过女主作为纯新人，表现比想象中好，也算惊喜了(侧脸挺像)；比较失望的是Leslie的选角。有些个人认为不应该被美化的角色的还是被美化了；而许多当年跟她亲近的好友都还在也就无法一一提及，即使有也要么是间接提及或是直接出现在老录像中(比如我头像中的两位)。最后还是要说：阿梅，想你。
最冷一天，想他。看到有这部电影的时候，我在想什么时候能拍张国荣。看完以后我想还是别拍了，会哭死会受不了…… 怎么说呢，很感动，哭了很多次，尤其是哥哥的葬礼和阿梅的《夕阳之歌》。但确实有一种消费哥哥的那种感觉了。但是能把梅艳芳拍成电影已经是超乎意料了，很香港，很爱香港，梅艳芳就是香港的女儿。花开花谢终是空，阿梅永远在心中。
梅：系个台上面望落去呢，见到有边个唔拍手掌呢，你就望住距唱，唱到距服，唱到距为你拍烂手掌为止。来啊！多谢！
听着梅艳芳、张国荣的歌走过青春的人，对这部电影有着不一般的情怀。
成名前比成名后有趣，但仍有好多有趣的点没有展现出来，现实还是要比电影精彩得多，这是创作的失败。梅艳芳的选角尚可圈可点，演员也足够投入，就算不是十全十美也不留遗憾了，张国荣的选角则是大灾难，身边的工具人则个个伟光正，仿佛要响起《让世界充满爱》的配乐，但更适合她的应该是《血染的风采》吧——她自己唱的那个版本。
很难评分，太不像电影了，但是梅艳芳真的太有魅力了。
一部注定失败的电影。在这个年代要拍梅艳芳又受限于大陆上映，只能用最糟糕的百度百科式叙事匆匆讲完一本流水账。其实如果导演能像前作那般有野心，是可以做出一曲时代挽歌的，但很多事情又不能挑明了说，所以就拼命拿真实的影像去找补。即便如此，纪实部分依然是残缺破碎的，所有的感动也不过是单纯的情怀作祟，与电影本身无关。
疫情应景
「我有花一朵，种在我心中。」「梅艳芳」这三个字，也像这一朵幽幽的女人花一样，一直种在我们的心里。
电影中所有人都太瘦了，那种21世纪审美的瘦。抛开张国荣选角的严重失败以及对近藤真彦莫名其妙的严重美化外，这部电影最大的问题是基调定位太错误、着墨重点偏差，把梅艳芳的一生塑造为寂寥悲情爱而不得只得孤身告勇的风雨中的花，这种对文艺女星常见的想象非常令我不舒服（就像许多人对张国荣一生的幻想也是悲情苦痛，这种审视轻佻又刻奇），实际上这种感受是只在梅姐人生后期回望走过的路时才有的遗憾，是任何一个人走到生命终点时都会产生的孤单感，并不是梅姐人生的底色，梅姐是勇而不孤的，梅姐的“达则兼济天下”也不只是捐款和提携后辈，相比《女人花》，她更多是《冰山大火》。作为传记电影已经立求把影像资料和拍摄结合、也在努力求真不杜撰（除了一些不敢拍的东西...），但站在粉丝角度很难说满意，虽然全程都在掉眼泪。
我比较纠结：一方面我不了解她，不知道她的真实经历是如何的，不知道电影对她感情生活的刻画是否过于肤浅；叙事主线也有点奇怪。但另一方面，又觉得女主角的还原度其实还蛮高，电影与真实场景切换也不出戏。而且梅姐的个人魅力实在是太强了，回家后忍不住翻她的所有资料看。现在的两地，实在都缺少这样一位有担当的公众人物啊。
电影的确不足以说完梅姐的一生，但是却让人回味起那个美妙的香港演艺圈盛世
全程不是在想哭就是在哭，但是演员演戏痕迹有点重
百变梅艳芳，香港的女儿。喜欢港片的，强推《梅艳芳》，看到泪目。 王丹妮演得非常好。 演哥哥的不做评价。程序员都干嘛吃的？别TM搞美女换头了，赶快让去世的演员们在电影里复活才是正经事。
1.会流泪，在重现张国荣葬礼时，在梅艳芳着婚纱嫁给舞台时，在演员王丹妮缓缓离开的侧颜而切入梅艳芳的告别演出时，在《夕阳之歌》响起时，在一声拜拜时…
认真稳妥的流水账拍法，也实在没有出彩之处。（江志强杨千嬅见面会）
iSquare 陪Tsui小姐回顾香港乐史，同样疫情之下，现在就再没有人牵头出来办演唱会了。想到之前还去过一次大球场，原来有这么感动的事，如果当年我们在，应该也会去参加的。王丹妮演的挺好的
看过梅艳芳后全场只剩下四个人，坐在我前排的女人大概四十岁左右，开灯后我发现她在抹眼泪，之后再电梯上我又碰见了她，我提醒她眼角粘上了纸，她把纸拿掉，我说刚刚好像有看见你在电影结束的时候擦泪，她点点头不好意思的笑了笑，18年前可能她正处在和我相仿的年纪吧，我想问她很多事情，可是电梯停下来了，我也不知道可以问点什么。她走了，我想起码多年以后这有个人还记着她。03年和今年，大家都是过得不太顺心的一年。
符号般的浮光掠影，但你也不能指望你能见到第二个梅艳芳，你能在影院重温一部纪录片，王丹妮可以模仿年轻的阿梅，但无法揣摩和成为梅姐，这不是她的问题，是因为活着的人有的是记忆和感情。看到开篇的婚纱，还是忍不住鸡皮疙瘩起来了，看到张国荣的葬礼，忍不住哭了。PS，并不太喜欢这部电影结构，似乎是梅艳芳没有获得好的婚姻才被迫嫁给了这个舞台。
看的导演剪辑版，说是人物传记片，更像纪录片，还原了梅姐人生中的一些重要时刻和事件。最让我感动的不是片尾的告别演唱会，而是她在生命的最后时光，再次回到日本那个和初恋度假过的酒店，那里有她最美好的回忆和最大的遗憾。那个年代的艺人真好啊，就算有各种花边新闻，但我们最终记住他/她们的，还是作品。
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