Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson
If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play "La Morte in Vacanza" by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained.
[Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.
To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but naïve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.
More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.
(Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk)
In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.
(Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net)
I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line "The Weirdest Love Story ever told!" (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts.
(Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org)
See also the remake: Death Takes A Holiday (1971)
美式抓壮丁我惊了；论老白男和老黄男谁更恶心；小雀斑的角色和他在罗琳事件中如出一辙。民运真的很容易被利用。光明与黑暗的角逐永不会停息。
the whole world is watching，望尘莫及
小哥聊了一句他在记名字因为和越南阵亡者相比他们这个court fight 就很trivial, 然后一句话 马上进入下一幕了。然后我当然脑子一机灵，我觉得这个大概率就是为了结尾埋伏笔了。i m patting myself on my own back for that
“- 你竟然把选举排在第一位？平等 正义 教育 贫穷 进步这些排在第二位？ - 如果不赢得选举，谁排第二就不重要了。” 这些年的观察是，人类是不会拥有普世价值的，他谈生存你谈自由，他谈发展你谈公平。世界像是一团皱巴巴的纸，所谓的坐标系根本就不曾存在的，唯一能把大家拉平的办法就只有，付之一炬。
愿世界和平愿世界美好。
有时候也需要一些温暖的鸡汤，真情动人。对灾难的讲述切入点很特别，技术上很强（卡司也太累了吧）
开始还以为是揭露美国司法黑暗的片子，哪里知道人家司法体系居然真有纠错机制，堂堂大总统想定几个老百姓的罪居然都定不下来。公正的法律的重要性，大多数人大概只有在自己被审判的时候才能体会到。
有时候也需要一些温暖的鸡汤，真情动人。对灾难的讲述切入点很特别，技术上很强（卡司也太累了吧）
political trial的论点很有趣。扣一是去看了原本事件的页面，只能说电影完整还原了，并没有太大的发挥空间。
9分，一气呵成，淋漓尽致。从审判开始到审判结束，每一次开庭都是一场腥风血雨。当一场法律审判沦为政治和个人利益的工具，就早已失去了其公正与尊严，更无法得到世人的尊敬。
前半段看得有点闷，但整体看完看下来就是两个字：凌厉。
司法、制度和文化的差异，必然会影响我们对片中所争论的“美国价值观”的理解。但无论怎么理解，“美国价值观”都是可以被质疑的价值观，正如片中精彩的法庭戏所展示的那样。显然，这不是每个地方所宣扬的价值观都能做到的。光是对待自己国家在上世纪六七十年代的历史这点，美国电影可以一拍再拍，而有些地方的这段历史只存在于历史书轻描淡写的几页文字上，对于这些地方的人来说，上世纪六七十年代是缺失的，这种缺失必然又会反过来影响他们理解这部影片，理解现代国家。（最后，不得不说，被告站起来读越战死亡名单时，我被感动哭了。
三星半。“掐头去尾”的社运片，全面依靠法庭（文）戏某种程度上有效做到了扬长避短，在其他同类型片中一定会被大书特书的抗议游行戏在索金这儿反而成了穿插补充的点缀，几场庭审戏的编排、不时地引经据典以及台词里的揶揄讽刺丝毫不会让人怀疑索金的剧本功力。不过，观点太过外露倒没有什么大问题（斯派克·李、奥利弗·斯通等导演皆是如此），只是借当下政治东风对各方势力的立场动机过于单一直白的刻画不免让人觉得有将观点强加于角色之嫌。总体来讲，还是部分得益于向历史事件借力的原因，观感相比上一部格局略小的《茉莉牌局》仍有明显提升。
司法、制度和文化的差异，必然会影响我们对片中所争论的“美国价值观”的理解。但无论怎么理解，“美国价值观”都是可以被质疑的价值观，正如片中精彩的法庭戏所展示的那样。显然，这不是每个地方所宣扬的价值观都能做到的。光是对待自己国家在上世纪六七十年代的历史这点，美国电影可以一拍再拍，而有些地方的这段历史只存在于历史书轻描淡写的几页文字上，对于这些地方的人来说，上世纪六七十年代是缺失的，这种缺失必然又会反过来影响他们理解这部影片，理解现代国家。（最后，不得不说，被告站起来读越战死亡名单时，我被感动哭了。
诉求是反战，年轻人们要做爱不要战争，拒绝当意识形态的炮灰，是理所当然的诉求。酗酒吸大麻搞性派对，再怎么颓废也是青春的一道阴影，都比喂子弹强。而国家机器的洗脑与威吓一定是号召大家参战，为政府抛头颅撒热血，合理化所有武装暴力，仅仅是少数几个政治寡头拍拍脑袋扯什么荣耀与尊严就宣布开战。而走上街头示威游行不仅不被允许，警察政府甚至直接祭上催泪瓦斯和警棍，你看，受伤的是年轻人，流血的是年轻人，被审判的也是年轻人。除了乖乖上战场把自己送上死路，年轻人再无路可走。连审判的规则，正义或者法庭本身，都被父权制、威权政府所绑架，并玩弄于股掌之中，打一巴掌不准还嘴，还说“藐视法庭”。艾比说，“给我一点时间好吗，我还没准备好会因为我的思想而受到审判”。历史是重复的，年轻人被玩权弄术之流所宰制，却又都被封住了嘴巴。
艾伦·索金又一部精彩的庭审故事，开场第一次庭审就张力十足，且勾勒出几个主要角色的性格，确实厉害。整部电影核心都集中在庭审，紧张、激烈、热血。最后的结案陈词太燃了。
I've never been on trial for my thought before
托尼奖获奖百老汇音乐剧《来自远方》被改编成电影。影片取自9.11当天加拿大甘德镇接纳了6600名意外迫降的旅客，并共处了3天的美好时光。世界大同，却又大而不同。既有9.11的恐袭，又有甘德镇无私的义举。在舞台上的演员，轮流切换着不同的身份，居民或是乘客，落叶聚还散，寒鸦栖复惊。
历史上没有哪一次的所谓正义的群体维权事件不会上升为流血和暴力，只能概括为四个字：乌合之众。
浹淇说：“在此时这部电影的社会意义大于电影本身。”我也这么认为，换个时间，我可能都不会选择在周末看这样一部zz庭审片。跟《燃情岁月》里的父亲一样，一直主张远离zz，但其实我们的生活处处跟它息息相关。才看了没三分钟，C就说“这不会是那个人编剧吧？”一查，真是，艾伦·索金，太厉害了，好久没见过台词写得这么精密又有效的了，有点新好莱坞时代或者比利怀德鼎盛时期的意思。人物很有意思，性格面貌不同，充分体现出阶级差异。萨莎太出彩，他这种表面嘻嘻哈哈的人容易被大众误解，其实内里最坚强也最正义，行动上也很有逻辑支持，算是这7人中最让我喜欢的。小雀斑的角色最后没让人失望，骨子里还是manly的。故事相对简单化了一些，但有高密度的台词打底，还是很有看头的。
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