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 na?ve 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)
有句臺(tái)詞“I thought you modern girls had no nevers”,女主角比起其他的年輕女性角色,仿佛是走古典優(yōu)雅風(fēng),感覺好像不沒女配角們爵士時(shí)尚啊,包括嗓音都特別有識別度,跟那種典型的中氣十足的嗓音不一樣。這讓我覺得導(dǎo)演在選角上仿佛是有意而為之,成為對比。本是沖著March看的,但是死神的審美,不大符合我的審美,畢竟里面“morden girls”才是我想看黃金時(shí)代電影的原因之一,導(dǎo)致對March這個(gè)角色的觀感也一般。本以為會(huì)是霸道總裁式的故事,沒想到摻雜“女主角向往死亡”“現(xiàn)代空虛”等這些點(diǎn),但電影對此刻畫也有限,不是走這條道道,主要還是神秘主義,導(dǎo)致對電影觀感也一般般了。
恥度太高,角色間的互動(dòng)甚至比不上皮特版。最大優(yōu)點(diǎn)是時(shí)間不長
love is greater than illusion…and strong as death.
臺(tái)詞好棒啊,就是結(jié)尾死神突然感慨“愛情最偉大”balabala有些破壞氣氛……早知道死神長這樣我就不怕鬼了(?)
3.5 有一天,死神在意大利扮作一個(gè)王子度假…… 這片竟然有好多好聽的配樂!在那個(gè)年代真是不容易。
death度假隨心所欲, love來的莫名其妙.那時(shí)的單片眼鏡是怎么戴上去的?很多有趣的臺(tái)詞: state man Fate奇怪沒有早點(diǎn)introduce us. Oldman . 拍肩膀for other reason.
Fredric March角色對于恐懼與生命的思考很吸引我 陰影真的是陰影嗎? 為何人們恐懼死亡與黑暗? 有些臺(tái)詞像古典詩句一般 提出的詢問指向外部 最后回到自身 他有一種冷而優(yōu)雅的氣質(zhì) 孤獨(dú) 他來到這個(gè)世界 沖擊了人們 重塑了死亡的概念 愛將會(huì)跨過界線
死亡也許比生命更加簡單、更加友善,但說到底也只是“也許”而已,不確定的事情永遠(yuǎn)令人恐懼。不贊同愛便是生命的意義、愛讓人無懼死亡這類浪漫化的說法,但這片確實(shí)許多地方都浪漫十足,像是死神與女主初見時(shí)的幾步一回眸,死神撩撥衣服上的花朵,還有女主那惝恍飄忽的神情。最后一幕有些不滿意。
目測是根據(jù)舞臺(tái)劇改編的,死神生前是莎劇演員嗎?死神享受3天"凡人假期",卻愛上一位"小公主",而小公主又對死亡文化很感冒,這個(gè)題材用79分鐘的長度展現(xiàn)似乎遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠,情感劇需要的是細(xì)節(jié),很多失敗愛情劇就是細(xì)節(jié)處理失當(dāng),導(dǎo)致火花來的不自然。
大學(xué)摯友跟我說過曾經(jīng)很想排練這個(gè)劇本,是Meet Joe Black的原型,一直記得。終于有幸看到,真是每一句臺(tái)詞都好美,連看的是英文字幕都察覺不到!有時(shí)候根本想象不到原來慢慢地一本正經(jīng)念臺(tái)詞的戲會(huì)如此美妙。
看過的最美的關(guān)于抑郁癥患者的電影。
馬奇的死神略萌,有點(diǎn)他以前演化身博士的感覺。女主眼神飄得很,適合角色。
這個(gè)片子……好像歌劇,特別是女主角的聲音。
萊森的鏡頭啊!!!!為什么最后死神披上黑袍獨(dú)白那一幕 半個(gè)腦袋都在鏡頭外面,,,不能忍啊!!!
3.5星,雖然舞臺(tái)劇味道濃重但是演員們的表演都非常走心,馬奇的口音真是魔幻。女主角云里霧里不知所謂的樣子確實(shí)像是某種精神疾患者,用這樣的方式去詮釋她對人生的選擇,不知道究竟是死神太有魅力還是死亡太有吸引力。PS相比新版還是更喜歡這個(gè)老版的結(jié)尾,頗有點(diǎn)愛倫坡浪漫入骨髓的風(fēng)范。
類似題材都難免流于爛俗 這部算是中規(guī)中矩的敘事派 不知是弗雷德里克的表演 還是他外表特有的黑色氣質(zhì) 讓這個(gè)死神不那么膚淺刻意 像當(dāng)初看他的化身博士一樣 暗黑系絕對是我男神強(qiáng)項(xiàng)
死神全年無休,討厭上班,給自己放了個(gè)三天小長假,化作人形,去凡間走一趟,尋找美好事物,探究何為恐懼,被愛折磨,最終明白生命意義。喜歡這一設(shè)定,不禁聯(lián)想起《模擬人生》作弊玩法,玩家苦苦鉆研,如何與死神相愛,癡迷于終極浪漫。
March的氣質(zhì)和演技沒得說,威嚴(yán)中帶著初入人世的好奇,還有死神接著人類“前言”說著南轅北轍的“后語”帶出的那種小喜感,最喜歡“我也碰過不少人的肩膀,不過可不是為了換舞伴?!眫女主很明顯打一開始就對死亡充滿了憧憬,但最后影片非要把落腳點(diǎn)放到愛情上,就挺給前面那些關(guān)于生命、死亡的討論拉胯的。
只要你夠帥,死神都有人愛,馬奇的喜劇天賦演起來有點(diǎn)萌
I bound myself to life. And now I must bow to it. 臺(tái)詞真美 死神與少女題材,這部居然是罕見的HE