Death Takes a Holiday (1971)
- Director(s):
- Robert Butler
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Synopsis of Death Takes a Holiday
This 1971 TV movie remake of the 1934 film of the same name (see the above synopsis) adds little to the original story about Death assuming human form to discover why mankind fears him. In updating the story, the scenarists removed much of the "nobility" of the principal characters--and also a lot of their charm. Melvyn Douglas and Myrna Loy are superb in roles played in 1934 by Sir Guy Standing and Helen Westley, while Monte Markham is okay but nothing more in the old Fredric March role as "Death". Yvette Mimieux is utterly forgettable as the enigmatic Grazia; her wisecracking American friend (originally Gail Patrick) is played by Maureen Reagan, a few years before the daughter of Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman (rather wisely) abandoned acting. Whatever appeal Death Takes a Holiday had in 1934 utterly withers and expires in this halfhearted remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Complete Cast of Death Takes a Holiday
- Colby Chester - Tony Chapman
- Melvyn Douglas - Judge Earl Chapman
- Mario Machado - TV Announcer
- Yvette Mimieux - Peggy Chapman
- Maureen Reagan - Ellen Chapman
- Bert Convy - John Cummings
- Regis J. Cordic - TV Announcer
- Myrna Loy - Selena Chapman
- Kerwin Mathews - Sen. Earl Chapman Jr.
- Priscilla Pointer - Marion Chapman
- Austin Willis - Martin Herndon
- Monte Markham - David Smith
- Director(s):
- Robert Butler
- Writer(s):
- Rita Larkin, Walter Ferris
- Producer(s):
- George Eckstein
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