I've only seen this a couple of times on television as it's one of those forgotten Christmas classics that didn't get that much airplay over the years. It's not a traditional sentimental Christmas film but it's setting is during the Christmas season. Robert Mitchum stars as a department store sales clerk who falls for a WWII war widow who is the mother of a boy and engaged to be married. Janet Leigh co-stars with Wendell Corey as her fiancé. Harry Morgan is among the supporting cast. Janet Leigh had made almost a dozen films since her screen debut a couple two years before A Holiday Affair was made but this was only her second film in a lead actress role. The whole cast is great in this adaptation of a story called Christmas Gift by magazine writer John D. Weaver. Don Hartman only directed five films in his career including this but was a busy guy in Hollywood as a screenwriter, producer, director and composer. Veteran cinematographer Milton Krasner whose career extended from the 30's into the 70's photographs this film. His excellent work included The Farmer's Daughter, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Seven Year Itch, Bus Stop and The Sterile Cukoo. Harry Marker whose film career began in the silents and went into the sixties is the film's editor. It's a good story with a good script and I would give it an 8.0 out of 10.
Review of Holiday Affair
