死神假期

   金马资源网 提供本片资源  Because I could not sto for Death, he kindly stoed 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 comelled to cover ositive 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 ossibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the lay La Morte in Vacanza by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaer who takes on human form in an attemt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not exlained.　　[Soiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his ath, Death shows u at, of all laces, an uscale arty at an Italian villa, osing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one erson knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki roceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and oetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deely into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, eole all over the world miraculously escae death and otential 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 develoed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.　　More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing erformance as the creey yet strangely aealing 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, talkingix.co.uk)　　In this wearisome and redictable lot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.　　(Dennis Schwartz, homeages.sover.net)　　I