Review of Summer Holiday

I cannot imagine the conversations that must have gone on in the Freed offices during the development of this property! It is so completely unlike anything that the Freed Unit had ever done, reflecting a more dissonant period of American history (during the making of this film). This is an extraordinary reflection on the MGM Everyman (especially Andy Hardy grown up). How did they get this past Louis B. Mayer? In my mind the history of MGM's innocence is resolved in this picture. When Andy Hardy/Mickey Rooney stands outside the family home, at the end of the picture, looking into the darkness that his future might bring it completes the Series that was so loved by MGM. I must believe Mamoulian really understood the dark journey he was taking his characters into and the dark post war future the American audience would soon face. A remarkable historical document that doesn't always work. Well worth viewing with a perspective on it's origins (Ah, Wilderness!). This film should be viewed as an original. Roy H. Wagner ASC Director of Photography