A remake of Holiday Inn, the 1954 film White Christmas borrows a lot of the same plot, the same lead actor, the same writer/composer, some of the same set, and a few of the same songs as the previous film. Fred Astaire was retired at this point and Bing Crosby's foil was set to be Donald O'Connor, but at the last second, O'Connor was replaced with dancing man Danny Kaye.The begins with a scene from the final days of WWII where Captain Bob Wallace (Crosby), who is a famous decision, has his life saved by private Phil Davis (Kaye). Post-War, the two them rise to the top as a song and dance duo with their own show and national fine. They recieve a letter from an old army buddy asking them to check out his sister's act. Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy Haynes (Vera Ellen) have a good night club act. Judy and Phil scheme to get Bob and Betty together so Judy can get away from her henpecking sister and Phil can get a few moments of R&R from his uptight partner. The group winds up in Vermont 
at an inn run by General Waverly (Dean Jagger), their old army general. The general is in trouble and so Phil and Bob stage an act at his inn to draw in customers. Betty begins to doubt the meaning behind why Phil and Bob are helping out the old general and leaves on the eve of the big act, casuing everyone to wonder if the show will go on.
at an inn run by General Waverly (Dean Jagger), their old army general. The general is in trouble and so Phil and Bob stage an act at his inn to draw in customers. Betty begins to doubt the meaning behind why Phil and Bob are helping out the old general and leaves on the eve of the big act, casuing everyone to wonder if the show will go on.The film went to number one the year it was released. Vera Ellen's voice was dubbed over for most of the songs by Trudy Stevens, except for during the song "Sisters", where both parts of the song were sung by Rosemary Clooney. Most of the dialog for the movie was ad-libbed or improvised. Director Michael Curtiz also directed more than 100 films, including Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Marsaw.com gives a great synopsis, analysis, and review of the film, which can be read here. A brief history of the film can be read here and a timeline for the making of the movie can be read here. I have found two reviews for this movie, this one at Blogcritics.com and this one from FilmForager.com. If you want to test your movie knowledge about White Christmas, you can take this quiz.
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