Stolen Holiday

Kay Francis and Ian Hunter in Stolen Holiday

Michael Curtiz's Stolen Holiday, from 1937, is a romantic melodrama of only occasional charm. Kay Francis stars as an aspiring model named Nicole Picot who is recruited by a Russian emigre flim-flam man named Stefan Orloff. Orloff is played by Claude Raines in the first of ten Curtiz films that featured Raines. Orloff pulls off a scam with Nicole's assistance and, in gratitude, sets her up as a Parisian couturier while he engages in various Ponzi schemes. 

One of these, a bond swindle based in Switzerland brings about Orloff's downfall. In the meantime, Orloff and Picot are a steady item, but their relationship lacks that certain spark of passion. This Nicole finds with Anthony Wayne, a British diplomat played with his usual stiffness by Ian Hunter. Curtiz gets a looser performance from Hunter than most, but Hunter lacks the necessary playfulness when called upon to crack eggs and yodel. Curtiz makes Hunter look as dashing as possible while Raines, a much more charismatic performer, is, as usual, the proverbial toad. Notice how Curtiz does not bother to obscure the height difference between Raines and Francis. He literally cuts Raines down to size so he can diminish his romantic allure.

Orloff tricks Picot into a marriage of convenience, but this does not save him from the long arm of the law. The forced marriage seems like a weak contrivance by screenwriter Casey Robinson to pad the picture into feature length. Orloff makes a show of nobility before going to his doom by releasing Picot from her marital obligations and true love emerges triumphant. 

Francis had been the lead female star at Warner Brothers for five years since leaving Paramount, but Stolen Holiday was one in a line of commercial dud pictures that led to her being labeled "box office poison" in 1938. This and a contract dispute with the Warner's brass led to her losing her leading lady status. Still, Stolen Holiday's Paris setting and fashion milieu show off Francis as the studio's then leading clothes horse. There are two fashion shows, a romantic ball where Hunter is introduced, a dance on a ship cruising Lake Geneva, and the aforementioned wedding. All show off Francis in a stunning array of Orry-Kelly gowns. The actress changes outfits every scene and the designer smartly attires her in a number of backless creations that show off her most alluring feature.

The glamor moments are fun, especially when Cutiz sends a swooping crane through the ball sequence, but neither Robinson nor Curtiz can enliven the scenes of Raines and his cohorts planning financial malfeasance. Raines' minions lack personality unlike Francis' Girl Friday, played by Alison Skipworth, a British born character actress who is good fun here as she was in such disparate films from the 1930s as The Devil is a Woman, Becky Sharp, Tillie and Gus, Alice in Wonderland, etc. Fans of Kay Francis will lap it up, but Stolen Holiday is routine stuff.

Stolen Holiday's plot was inspired by the Stavisky affair. A much better picture about this French scandal is Alain Resnais' Stavisky from 1974, a rare crowd pleaser from the French master which stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Charles Boyer.