Holiday for Sinners

Holiday for Sinners
Holiday for Sinners
Directed by	[fr]
Based on	1939 novel "Days Before Lent" by Hamilton Basso
Starring	Gig Young; Keenan Wynn; Janice Rule;
Cinematography	Paul Vogel
Edited by	Fredrick Y. Smith
Music by	Alberto Colombo
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	1952
Running time	72 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$767,000
Box office	$383,000

Holiday for Sinners is a 1952 film directed by Gerald Mayer and starring Gig Young, Keenan Wynn and Janice Rule.

Plot[]

Three men, reared together in New Orleans, but whose paths have drifted apart, each face a crisis during the last weekend of Mardi Gras: Dr. Jason Kent must decide between accepting a chance to become famous as a research scientist, which will mean leaving New Orleans and giving up the girl he loves, Susan Corvier, or staying in his father's practice among the poor; Father Victor Carducci is refused permission to open an independent clinic and is thinking of leaving the Church; punch-drunk prizefighter Joe Piavi is mainly operating in a survival mode and is trying to collect $1,500 owed to him by his former manager Mike Hennighan. When he finds out about the debt, brash reporter Danny Farber, not above a double-cross when it means gain for him, needles Hennighan about Joe, and then tells Joe that Henninghan is threatening to send him to an asylum.

Cast[]

Gig Young as Dr. Jason Kent
Keenan Wynn as Joe Piavi
Janice Rule as Susan Corvier
William Campbell as Danny Farber
Richard Anderson as Father Victor Carducci
Frank Dekova as the Wiry Man
Will Wright as the Man with a Cigar

Reception[]

The New York Times review was mixed, but positive overall: “The error of allowing a basic situation to be dissipated in irrelevancies has resulted, as it often does, in a weakened total impression in ‘Holiday for Sinners’....Basically, Mr. Young’s trouble is that he’s beginning to doubt that the people he helps and comforts are worth the trouble. Why should he go on slipping Joe the ten spots or trying to get his eyesight restored? Shouldn’t he, as he says, ‘Let Joe take care of Joe?” His is a fundamental question, a conflict of the soul that here, at least, is never answered satisfactorily. True, he does stay on, passing up the good job, but he never gives evidence that he’s solved his problem, or answered his own questions....Keenan Wynn gives a performance as fine as you’ll see anywhere...you’ll have trouble recognizing Keenan Wynn, the comic....’Holiday for Sinners,’ while lacking solidity, is worth seeing.”^[2]

According to MGM records, the movie earned $303,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $80,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss to the studio of $562,000.^[1]

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^ O.A.G. “’Holiday for Sinners’ Opens at the Palace.” New York Times, 20 September 1952.

External links[]

Holiday for Sinners a TCMDB
Holiday for Sinners at IMDb

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[Mannix-1] The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.

[2] O.A.G. “’Holiday for Sinners’ Opens at the Palace.” New York Times, 20 September 1952.

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