Every Day's a Holiday [Blu-ray]

Director: Edward Sutherland, A. Edward Sutherland Edward Sutherland

Overview

Paramount spent a record one million dollars on its 1937 Mae West vehicle Every Day's a Holiday. La West portrays a turn-of-century confidence trickster who poses as a famous French chanteuse to avoid arrest. In this guise, she manages to expose crooked police chief Lloyd Nolan and smooths the path for reform mayoral candidate Edmund Lowe. A strong cast of supporting comedians, including Charles Winninger, Charles Butterworth and Walter Catlett, match Mae quip for quip. Elaborately produced and snappily directed by Eddie Sutherland, Every Day's a Holiday should have been the hit that Mae West needed to save her flagging film career. Unfortunately, her vogue had passed, plus she was under fire from America's bluenoses because of her previous "racy" vehicles and her recent "lewd and lascivious" appearance on Edgar Bergen's radio show. (When heard today, West's "Adam and Eve" sketch seems harmless enough, but remember the formidability of the Bible Belt back in 1938.) As a result, Every Day's a Holiday lost every penny it cost and then some -- and effectively ended Mae West's relationship with Paramount, the studio she had single-handedly rescued from bankruptcy with She Done Him Wrong back in 1933.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/29/2021
UPC:	0738329253547
Original Release:	1937
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:19:00
Sales rank:	20,939

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Mae West	Peaches O'Day
Edmund Lowe	Capt. Jim McCarey
Charles Butterworth	Larmadou Graves
Lloyd Nolan	Honest John Quade
Charles Winninger	Van Reigble Van Pelter Van Doon III
Walter Catlett	Nifty Bailey
Louis Armstrong	Band Leader
George Rector	Himself
Herman Bing	Fritz Krausmeyer
Roger Imhof	Trigger Mike
Chester Conklin	Cabby
Lucien Prival	Danny the Dip
Adrian Morris	Asst. Police Commissioner
Francis McDonald	Henchman
John Indrisano	Henchman
Irving Bacon	Quartet
Allan Rogers	Quartet
Otto Fries	Quartet,Quartet member
John 'Skins' Miller	Quartet
Dick Elliott	Bar Patron
James C. Morton	Bartender
Edgar Dearing	Cop at Store Window
Johnny Arthur	Extra
Weldon Heyburn	New Year's Eve Party Guest
Ferdinand Munier	New Year's Eve Party Guest
Ron Moody	Actor
Herbert Rawlinson	New Year's Eve Party Guest
William Austin	Extras

Technical Credits

Emanuel Cohen	Producer
A. Edward Sutherland	Director

Editorial Reviews

Had Every Day's a Holiday been made a few years earlier, it would most likely have been considerably funnier. By 1937, censors were forcing Mae West and her particular brand of comedy to undergo a "watering down" that took a great deal of life out of the great comic's films. Still, even diluted, Holiday is a moderately entertaining vehicle for West -- and just to make sure there's no doubt as to whose vehicle this is, West made sure there were no other female roles of any consequence whatsoever. Whether she had any hand in the choosing of Edmund Lowe as her co-star is debatable, but his casting also means that she doesn't have to worry about the male lead stealing any of her thunder. Lowe is adequate, but uninspired. Of more concern to West would be the supporting cast, starting with the excellent Lloyd Nolan turning in a beautiful villainous performance and also including the fine comedic talents of Charles Butterworth, Charles Winninger, and Walter Catlett. But West is more than able to take any scene that seems to be going their way and steal it back with a mere nod of the head or slight wiggle of the hips. Whether cutting through a window to steal a mannequin's outfit or pretending to be the most ridiculous French chanteuse ever, West is a delight to behold. Every Day's a Holiday may not be all that it should have been, but with Mae West on board, there's enough to keep the audience entertained.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler