Stolen Holiday

Stolen Holiday
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Written by Story:
Warren Duff
Virginia Kellogg
Screenplay by Casey Robinson
Starring Kay Francis
Claude Rains
Ian Hunter
Music by Leo F. Forbstein
Cinematography Sidney Hickox
Edited by Terry O. Morse
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates
  • February 7, 1937 (1937-02-07)
Running time
 76-84 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Stolen Holiday is a 1937 film loosely based on the Stavisky Affair, a French political scandal. A Russian con artist worms his way into the upper reaches of French society, but is finally exposed, with tragic consequences.

Plot

In 1931 Paris, Nicole Picot (Kay Francis), a model for a fashionable dress shop, is hired by nearly-penniless Stefan Orloff (Claude Rains) to help persuade a financier to fund his ambitious plans. By 1934, Stefan has established an investment bank; in gratitude, he provides the capital that Nicole needs to set up her own business and become a successful dress designer (though she insists on paying him back).

British diplomat Anthony Wayne (Ian Hunter) romances Nicole and wins her heart. However, when Stefan's crooked schemes start to unravel, he asks Nicole to marry him without divulging his main motive: the attendance of her influential friends at the well-publicized ceremony would bolster public confidence in him and buy him time. She agrees, out of friendship alone, much to the distress of her friend and assistant, Suzanne (Alison Skipworth). It is too late. At their wedding, Stefan's closest confederate, Francis Chalon (Walter Kingsford), is taken away by the police for questioning, and the other guests hastily depart.

Knowing that Chalon can incriminate him, Stefan goes into hiding at a remote chateau. However, he makes a mistake, sending a letter to Nicole asking her to join him. She does so, despite Anthony's protests. Nicole gets Stefan to admit the truth, though he insists he does love her. When he sees that the police have followed Nicole and have surrounded the chateau, he excuses himself. To spare her from being dragged down with him, he goes outside. As he expected, he is shot and killed, though it is staged to look like a suicide to avoid causing further embarrassment to the government.

Afterward, Anthony persists and finally gets Nicole to agree to marry him.

Preservation

In addition to being held by Warner Bros., the film is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.[1]

Cast

References

  1. ↑ Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at the Library of Congress, p.175 c.1978 by The American Film Institute
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