Death Takes a Holiday (1934)
Directed by Mitchell Leisen
After years of questioning why people fear him, Death takes on human form so he can mingle among the mortals and find an answer. However, events soon spiral out of control as he falls in love with the beautiful young Grazia, the only woman not afraid of him. As he falls in love with her, her father sees him for what he is and begs him to return to his duties. Death must decide whether or not to seek his own happiness or sacrifice it so that Grazia may live.
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What critics compared Death Takes a Holiday to
Now, there’s nothing wrong with a romantic fantasy—try Mitchell Leisen’s Death Takes a Holiday (1934) or William Dieterle’s Portrait of Jennie (1948)—but it’s probably not the wisest of moves to try to sell one to a teenage audience as a horror movie.
Clocking in at three hours (the 1934 Death Takes a Holiday, on which this is loosely based, was a trim 78 minutes), Meet Joe Black is a lingering demise indeed, prettified and devoid of much sting.
What's particularly irritating is that "Meet Joe Black" does have an interesting story germ, which has made for two good movies already 1934's "Death Takes a Holiday" and a 1971 made-for-TV remake.
Loosely based on Death Takes a Holiday, an engaging, if stagy, 1934 contraption starring Fredric March (and all of 78 minutes long), Meet Joe Black is sometimes clever and enjoyable, even touching, yet too often the film makes you feel as if you're in Sunday school.
Meet Joe Black was loosely suggested by the 1934 movie, Death Takes a Holiday, which, in turn, was based on a '20s stage play of the same name.
The story of Meet Joe Black, penned by Ron Osborn and Jeff Reno and based on the 1934 classic Death Takes A Holiday, is not epic in any way.
The rest of the movie, a remake of the 1934 classic "Death Takes a Holiday," doesn't have much going for it either.