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)
82/100。刚看完《登月第一人》和“爱在”三部曲，看这部简直是perfect timing。整部电影将虚幻与现实交叉，充满了浓浓的怀旧气氛，平淡又真切，很容易令人共情，与导演一同怀念他童年时期那段经典岁月。怀旧的同时，也不乏对当时，以及对现在的些许反思。我很喜欢这种将童年的幻梦与现实交杂在一起的怀旧叙事，谁的童年记忆不是亦真亦幻的呢？是目前我最喜欢的今年的动画电影。（男主好像扎尼奥洛
喜欢！既然要去月球，那就一去不返，让一部分悄悄活在69年的休斯顿。
★★★☆ 《半夢半醒的人生》的真人動畫化，《少年時代》的青春白描，Richard Linklater把他關於60年代的回憶傾瀉而出，有偏個人的，家庭生活、校園玩樂、電影、電視、音樂，有偏全民的，登月計劃、越南戰爭、嬉皮士，讓電影更像是一個劇情片框架內的紀錄片，然而，這些回憶都太過私人化和碎片化了，我可以靜靜地欣賞這樣一副美國60年代風情畫，卻沒辦法被打動，還是那些半真半假的兒時幻想，讓我有種說不明道不清的小感動，或許，我想到了兒時的自己吧，我也曾Dream Big。
一代人的航天梦，以回忆的形式来讲充分发挥了记忆不可靠在电影叙事中的作用，本来自己睡着了，却因为经历过，硬给自己加戏的做法给电影加了一层可爱。不过归根结底还是对60年代美国生活的怀念，都是代表性的细节点
装载了导演童年的个人追忆与集体回忆。60年代与刚过去的世纪末并无差多少。★★★☆/7.4
我最熟悉的恐怕只有餐桌上一闪而过的以啄木鸟形象包装的玉米片了…有点像是有真人转为动画的画风，风格还挺独特的。
看着孩子们求学若渴的眼神真的会充满力量，当然也会有压力，男主真不容易。
值得观看的电影，感觉挺适合在学校放，或者一家人一起看的。
一辈子的事，一部影片得时长是叙述不够的，剧里刻画的几个小细节只是支教生活里的几个方面～但我们也能从中得知为人“师者，传道授业解惑者也”面临的太多太多的不容易了，但可喜的是，还有一群纯朴的孩子们陪着吃陪着笑陪着闹，仿只要孩子好好读书，考的好过的好，就一切都好。题外话:风景绝美～是刀呜呜呜呜呜
看到了美国60年代的生活，不一样的童年生活，还挺有意思的，对比起来反而登月部分有点无聊了。
电影整体基调是温暖质朴的，很单纯的讲述一个进藏支教老师的故事，没用用大而空的套子讲主旋律。推进人物关系，用一些小细节和物件，口琴、土拔鼠、马、米饭，感情逐渐的累积，让人能轻松代入这个故事。影片令人印象最深是摄影，蓝天草原白云，色彩、构图都很清新明亮。最后，男主孩子们表演都很自然。
以一个少年的角度展现当时美国家庭甚至全美社会的状态，登月计划对他们的影响。画风很有美漫的特点，插曲也很好听。默默的文化输出，国内也需要这样的作品。
特效每次出现都能把我尬住，除此之外都还好，真实取景就是牛，这种美不是后期能做出来的
林特莱克的童年往事，属于60年代美国的美好，又有谁能证明这个登月的故事是虚构的呢？
意外的有趣 果然一直还差60年 流行文化和消费主义的鼻祖
“春蚕到死丝方尽，蜡炬成灰泪始干”我现在才真正的理解这句话的含义。韩松老师向您致敬！
那么多童年的畅想，童年的气息，童年的味道，童年的颜色，糅合在一起成为了每个人独特的记忆。他珍藏的、在半梦半醒中见到的是登月，我们的呢？
韩松老师一一背下学生名字的那一片刻有被感动到，影响蛮深刻的
就像是导演不带有色眼镜的回看了自己丰富多彩的童年，以动画形式呈现比真人电影更有回忆感，很喜欢这种呈现方式，听着挺絮叨其实看起来一点也不枯燥。
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