White Christmas Reviews

This eagerly awaited musical comedy had all the ingredients for success: two of its day's biggest-box office draws, a solid director, and a score by America's treasure, Irving Berlin. And though it's not as satisfying as it might have been, it still boasts great stars and catchy songs in addition to a love story, and is a perennial holiday favorite. Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) meet during the war and team up afterward to become the hottest song-and-dance duo around. After five years of heady success, they think it's about time to take a vacation, so they travel to a New England ski resort in the company of lovely sister entertainers Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy (Vera-Ellen) for some rest and recuperation. They arrive to find the place in terrible financial condition and in desperate need of an infusion of money, because there hasn't been any snow for almost a year. The man who runs the inn is their old Army topkick, Gen. Waverly (Dean Jagger). Bob and Phil decide to aid Waverly by staging a benefit show that is, of course, a smash. Included is the title song, which Irving Berlin had written for HOLIDAY INN 12 years before. With that tune as the core, the script was fashioned, and several more Berlin tunes were added.