Holiday (1938)

Money gives freedom and power. Being an offspring of a rich parent runs the risk of being dominated by the parent's power. Family riches can also deny the offspring freedom that stems from exercising the skills acquired in trying to find one's own way in life. Katharine Hupburn's character, Linda, is a casualty of such a family. Cary Grant's character, Johnny, is about to marry into such a family.

Linda is intense, earnest, and naive. Her zest and maturity seem incongruous at times; one anticipates her going mad unless her situation changes in a way that would allow her to put to test the ideas about life brooding in her mind at ever more frequent moments of solitude. But she never does go mad, and therein lies her strength.

Linda's father, Edward Seton, remarks that it is unAmerican not to aspire to maximize personal wealth. Linda stands for a different idea of America; it is unAmerican not to be critical, not to be curious, not to be adventurous, not to be free. The film is not an argument against a career in business. The film is an argument for making informed decisions and not being unnecessarily conformist.