Holiday Inn (Special Edition) [1942] [DVD]

Holiday Inn is a perennial, Christmas-season favourite from 1942 teamed Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire as entertainers (and rival suitors of Marjorie Reynolds) running an inn that is only open on holidays. It's a great excuse for lots of singing and dancing, seamlessly wrapped in a catchy story, and Astaire's frequent director Mark Sandrich (Top Hat, Shall We Dance?) doesn't let us down. The Irving Berlin numbers (each one connected to a different holiday) are winners. Crosby's warm performance of "White Christmas" is a movie touchstone. --Tom Keogh

Holiday Inn is the perennial Christmas-season favourite from 1942 that teams Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire as entertainers (and rival suitors of Marjorie Reynolds) running an inn that is only open on holidays. It's a great excuse for lots of singing and dancing, seamlessly wrapped in a catchy story, and Astaire's frequent director Mark Sandrich (Top Hat, Shall We Dance) doesn't let us down. The Irving Berlin numbers (each one connected to a different holiday) are winners, with Crosby's warm performance of "White Christmas" a movie touchstone. --Tom Keogh

With music by Irving Berlin, songs by Bing Crosby (including White Christmas) and dancing by Fred Astaire, Holiday Inn is one of the most delightful and memorable musicals of all time. Crosby plays Jim Hardy, a song and dance man who leaves showbiz to open a Connecticut Inn. Astaire plays Ted Hanover, Hardy’s former partner and rival in love. And of course there are girls (Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale), an agent (Walter Abel) and plenty of lavish song and dance routines with spectacular production numbers.

• A Couple of Song and Dance Men featurette, containing an interview with Ava Astaire MacKenzie
  
• All-Singing, All-Dancing: Before and After
  
• Audio Commentary with film historian Ken Barnes with archive audio comments from Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby and John Scott Trotter
  
• Cast and crew profiles
  
• Theatrical trailer
  
• Production notes