Holiday Affair (1949)

A young widow is romanced by a sales clerk whom she inadvertently got fired.

Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, Wendell Corey, Gordon Gebert

Storyline

Just before Christmas, department store clerk Steve Mason meets big spending customer Connie Ennis, really a commercial spy. He unmasks her but lets her go, which gets him fired. They end up on a date, which doesn't sit well with Connie's steady suitor, Carl, but delights her son Timmy, who doesn't want Carl for a step-dad. Standard (if sweet) romantic complications follow.

Watch:

Part One     Part Two     Part Three     Part Four

Quotes

Steve Mason: Carl isn't the real threat to me. Maybe I'm not to him. This isn't two fellows and a girl, you know. This is two fellows, a girl and her husband. I can't fight a shadow - I tried - competition's too tough. You were even going to play it safe and settle for someone you didn't love so you wouldn't be unfaithful to your husband.

Connie Ennis: Oh, you're always so wrong about me. I have a wonderful memory of a husband and a marriage. You're trying to take it away from me.

Steve Mason: Nobody wants to do that. I know. I'm sure Carl doesn't. All anybody wants is for you to live in the present and not be afraid of the future. You know, maybe it could happen again if you quit pretending that something that's dead is still alive.

Connie Ennis: Oh, alright, if it will make you any happier, you're a fortune teller. You're absolutely right about me all the time. I want everything just the way it is - Mrs. Status Quo. Just me and Timmy - no changes.

Steve Mason: And I want a girl that'll drop everything and run to me, no matter what the score is.

Connie Ennis: If you wish for things you can get, you're gonna be happy. If you wish for real big things, all you're gonna get is real big disappointments.

User Reviews

An undiscovered Christmas classic

20 June 2005 | by MartinHafer

I love this film and am amazed that it seems to have been undiscovered among the many holiday movies we are blitzed with every Christmas season. I am actually VERY happy about this, as it is usually shown only about once or twice every year on cable and has not been ruined (at least for me) by over-saturation. "It's a Wonderful Life" is a movie that I no longer can stand because it was shown so many times during the 1980s--sometimes on two or three or more cable channels AT THE SAME TIME!! But, somehow lazy television programmers haven't yet done this to "A Holiday Affair". Hmmm,...maybe I should NOT review it so that it remains a hidden gem.

Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh and Wendall Corey all star in this delightful little film about a train set and Christmas. Janet Leigh is a single mom (her husband having been killed in the war) and works as a comparison shopper (a spy who buys products and tests them out for competing stores). She buys a train for just this purpose but her adorable little son (Gordon Gebert) finds the very expensive train and assumes it's for him. Mitchum works at the store where this is purchased and correctly assumes she is a spy BUT because he feels sorry for her and does not turn her in, he is fired. Leigh feels sorry for him and invites him to Christmas dinner with her son and fiancé (Corey). Soon after arriving, Mitchum learns from the little boy that he thinks he's getting this great train that he found hidden in his mom's room (though this was bought for her job--the train she could afford to buy him was MUCH cheaper and less fancy). Mitchum decides to buy the kid that exact train (though he is out of work). When Leigh finds out, she is upset--Mitchum is practically a stranger and is out of work. When the boy hears this, he knows he can't keep the train and so he sneaks out of the house to return the train (although he looks to be only about 7 years-old). This scene of such a little boy wandering up the chain of command at the department store to return the train is priceless! What happens next is something you'll have to see for yourself. Although the eventual outcome is rather predictable, it arrives at this destination in such a classy and engaging way that you won't be disappointed.

This movie is perhaps one of the best examples of the magical films that Hollywood was capable of making in the 1940s. The dialog is among the best and the long string of coincidences make this film charming, not clichéd. Plus, it's a nice example of a film with a child star who acts a lot like a real kid--and he keeps his own among all the big-name stars! Give it a chance--it's sure to brighten up your holiday.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041473/