米切尔·莱森

　　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)

　　蕾姬（卡洛·朗白 Carole Lombard 饰）从来不相信什么狗屁爱情，她的人生目标只有一个，那就是傍上一个大款，一跃飞上枝头做凤凰。艾伦（拉尔夫·贝拉米 Ralph Bellamy 饰）是一位身患残疾的富翁，他对蕾姬的感情观不置可否，他知道虽然蕾姬嘴上视爱情如粪土，但这个世界上一定会有一个男人令她坠入情网之中。　　很快，这个男人就出现了，他的名字叫做西奥多雷（弗莱德·麦克莫瑞 Fred MacMurray 饰），刚开始，蕾姬以为西奥多雷是指一个一文不值的穷小子，但之后她意外的发现，这个其貌不扬的男人竟然家财万贯，实现梦想的机会近在眼前。但很快蕾姬便失望的得知，他已经有未婚妻了。

　　乔治（查尔斯·博耶 Charles Boyer 饰）是一名拥有罗马尼亚血统的法国人，为了能够赚钱养活自己，乔治如今在墨西哥从事着出卖自己身体的行当。乔治最大的梦想就是有朝一日能够前往美国，获得美国的国籍，摆脱自己可悲的过往，为此他制定了一个周密的计划。　　乔治决定找一个美国女人结婚，这样他就可以顺利成章的成为美国人，然后再一脚将这个可怜的女人蹬掉，之后接自己真正心爱的女人阿妮塔（宝莲·高黛 Paulette Goddard 饰）来美国一起生活。虽然不愿意将爱人拱手让人，但阿妮塔知道，想到得到任何东西，首先都得付出些什么。很快，乔治在美国就遇见了名为艾米（奥利维娅·德哈维兰 Olivia de Havilland 饰）的女子。

　　

　　在大萧条期间，一位富有的银行家扔掉了妻子昂贵的皮大衣；它落在了速记员的头上，导致每个人都认为她是他的情妇，可以得到他的数百万美元。

　　Just before Christmas, Lee Leander is caught shoplifting. It is her third offense. She is prosecuted by John Sargent. He postpones the trial because it is hard to get a conviction at Christmas time. But he feels sorry for her and arranges for her bail, and ends up taking her home to his mother for Christmas. Surrounded by a loving family (in stark contrast to Lee's own family background) they fall in love. This creates a new problem: how do they handle the upcoming trial?