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)
47版当然也有自己的问题，但作为黑色电影，47版戏剧冲突完整性弥补了剧情不足，出色的表演压住了台面。原有可延伸主题：神化-兽化、宗教先知形成要素，欺骗的心理优势与反噬 ，在新版里一一被弱化，潦草许多；本片增加了Molly、老板细节，却丢了算命夫妇的弧光，尤其是关键人物Pete，让主角的操控和悔恨逻辑换了个方向，“never”一词是在暗示Pete算半个精神父亲吗（火与酒），那么欺骗或杀害老人或许源自于弑父情节，这就是另一套逻辑了（本片主题本来就很乱很多）。至于情感断层就懒得说了，陀螺做了一些圆滑设计，但关键时刻感情渲染总是不到位，老太太开枪把我吓到了，就，强行制造黑色氛围呗
个人觉得片子没毛病，还是挺好看的。就是出自陀螺之手的话，再加上这个卡死，感觉有点屈才了。右后谁要问我什么事“卡斯诈骗”，此片就是经典案例。。。那个婴儿标本是从双瞳剧组借的吗？片尾，我以为男主要说，哥，憋给我灌鸦片了，怪人，我演就是了。其实我有一点不懂，男主为啥忽然就开始喝酒了呢？
free9年了 后篇也上映了真的要结束了😢天下没有不散的宴席难过了呜呜😭 一想到看完了后篇就是真的说再见了 我真的会很难过😣
«El callejón de las almas perdidas» 西语译名还真是直直直译…… 这故事讲两个半小时也太过冗长了吧
后篇都上映一阵子了我终于看完了前篇，我算是看明白了，没点心理问题都无法在运动番里出场。为我磕到的真遥宗凛旭郁枫日等cp们多加一星，京阿尼真.端水大师。
第94届奥斯卡BP领衔凑数影片。找出本片翻拍的意义，比找出入围的理由还要难。
20岁就开始焦虑的日本人…ip越来越无聊也越来越糊
为什么结局整这么中二 附什么身淋什么雨 就不能让真琴和遥好好腻歪五分钟？！就五分钟不行吗！一句回家打游戏就打发走了？！岂可修！！
你玩不过大魔王。
服化道都很好，看着也很好，但是这个故事就完全照搬原版、几乎没有改动，这么原模原样的用新技术重新拍了一遍，这就让人觉得这样毫无全新内容和解读的翻拍到底是为了什么呢？而且，片长也算是个问题，第一幕马戏团的部分有点太长了吧，2个半小时的全片也是没啥必要的长了。
服化道摄影灯光表演都很完美，但是故事有点欠缺，还好结尾收的不错。★★★☆
完成度很高，故事看似复杂，其实很简单，主要是前面一半太拖沓了，让人感觉意味不明，后半部分渐入佳境，结尾最好。这部片子最亮点的，其实是BC和CB两位的x张力，双A强强太带劲了。
1、“他究竟是一个人类，还是一个天生的怪人？没人知道……”
40。
最後只剩下空具時代感的排場，除了攝影以外，如果能摘下奧斯卡其它任何獎項，那評審的眼光就非常令人懷疑了。
救命，原版我就觉得是个很一般的故事，陀螺这个为什么要拍这么冗长且没什么新意，走上骗人道路就用了整整一个小时。
前篇最后我也是一声叹息，想说虽然人生就是这种反反复复的鬼样子，但也不用如此一再描摹吧.....
2.12 陀螺特色部分馬戲團好看。但是BC傻憨憨的很出戏
凯特布兰切特是真拉皮拉到脸僵,眼睛细又长了啊，看《不要抬头》时候还以为是配合人物做了特效妆，而且接的角色都差不多,造型都像,演起来更是一个样,总是昂着头下颌线冲摄影师。另一位凯特现在可是甩她几个身位了！
横扫威尼斯和奥斯卡之后，托罗的作者话语权达到巅峰，这反映在第一幕恋物癖式的马戏团部分失衡的冗长。但当这个伪通灵者傲慢踏上自己末途时，电影在祛魅式的算计和神秘的命运，在旧时代方术和新时代技术之间交迭，并最终回归马戏团，回归circus的本意——命运无尽轮回。如果托罗把恋物癖趣味放一放，花更多篇幅来塑造电影中这几位女士，这本可以是他最杰出作品，现在却只有半出好戏。 @西湖电影资料馆
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