Holiday

Delightful doesn't begin to describe George Cukor's 1938 film "Holiday," a work that is also melancholy and hopeful in equal measures with its exuberant charm. The film brought together the intoxicatingly dynamic duo of Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant for a third time, following 1935's "Sylvia Scarlett" (also by Cukor) and Howard Hawks' "Bringing Up Baby" (released the same year as "Holiday"). Cukor would follow "Holiday" with one final collaboration with his muses, the iconic 1940 film, "The Philadelphia Story." And while the latter film may garner the most recognition when discussed among both Cukor's filmography and the pairing of Hepburn and Grant, "Holiday" should be equally revered.

The film follows a self-made, idealistic dreamer named Johnny Case (Grant), who is set to marry a woman he just met and barely knows anything about. One of the first things he discovers about his soon-to-be bride, Julia Seton (Doris Nolan), is that she's immensely rich and lives with her extremely wealthy family: Father Edward (Henry Kolker), brother Ned (Lew Ayres), and sister Linda (Hepburn). Linda, in particular, stands out to Johnny as a wild-eyed dreamer much like himself, a fact that he soon learns the value of once he realizes life with Julia would mean slaving away at the bank for the rest of his life.

This marvelous movie is an ode to the pleasure of dreaming, but also its immense sadness. We see Johnny and Linda as both falling in love and realizing their passions together, but there's a strong essence of ennui in their pursuits. Much of the film's philosophy can be summed up in the words of Ned, the alcoholic brother, who essentially states that life is just forward motion toward death. But Cukor balances this pessimism with utter optimism, including the moment of stirring, soulful romance between its two leads. The final shot left me in tears, and my heart was absolutely fluttering.

New to The Criterion Collection in a 4K digital restoration with uncompressed monaural soundtrack, "Holiday" features the following bonus material:

� "Holiday," a 1930 adaptation of Philip Barry's play, directed by Edward H. Griffith
� New conversation between filmmaker and distributor Michael Schlesinger and film critic Michael Sragow
� Audio excerpts from an American Film Institute oral history with director George Cukor, recorded in 1970 and '71
� Costume gallery
� An essay by critic Dana Stevens

"Holiday"
Blu-ray
$31.96
www.criterion.com/films/28829-holiday "American Horror Story" isn't going anywhere!

FX revealed at the Television Critics Association Thursday that it has renewed the anthology series for three more seasons, Deadline reports.

News of the renewal comes a few months after the tenth installment aired, "American Horror Story: 1984." A new season of "AHS," which was created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, will air later this year.

Murphy left Fox for Netflix in 2018 for a mega overall shortly before Disney purchased Fox. Nevertheless, he's still involved in his projects at FX, including "AHS," "Pose," and "American Crime Story."

Murphy spoke about possible future seasons of "AHS" in November 2019, telling Deadline that he usually comes up with the themes for the seasons around Halloween. He noted that he's "working on an idea for Season 10 that I think people will love because it's about reuniting fan-favorite actors to come back – because it might be the last season."

"It's the last season we have contracted. So, I've been quietly reaching out to various people," he added. "Some people I haven't reached out to yet because I was like 'Do I have a role for them?' So far, everybody I reached out to said 'Yes', so that's been great."

It's unclear if Murphy will change plans now that "AHS" has been renewed for three more seasons.