“Holiday Inn” it’s not. Robert Sidomak’s “Christmas Holiday,” also released in 1944, stars songstress Deanna Durbin (yes, she’s still with us) as a thinly disguised prostitute unhappily married to a murderous, mother-fixated Creole (Gene Kelly; his mom, in the background, you may recognize as Gale Sondergaard) in an adaptation of a W. Somerset Maugham story set in New Orleans. A few weeks ago, the entire flick (which apparently has never been shown on TV in the U.S. because of rights issues) was available on You Tube. It’s been pulled down, but for the time being you can celebrate the darker side of the holiday with Deanna’s particularly mournful rendition of Irving Berlin’s “Always.”
Updater: Thanks to the commenter who pointed out deannadurbindevotees.com — where there are links full-length You Tube-d
versions of “Christmas Holiday” and 10! other Durbin musicals.