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)

因为我无法为死神停下来，所以他好心地为我停下来；马车上只有我们自己和不朽”——艾米莉·狄金森如果死亡放假了，伊拉克的枪声就会沉寂，我们国家高速公路上的屠杀就会停止，新闻媒体将被迫报道人文领域的积极事件，艺术和科学。不幸的是，死亡在有记载的历史中并没有休假，但米切尔·莱森 1934 年的奇幻小说《死亡休假》让我们考虑了这种可能性。 《死亡假期》由麦克斯韦·安德森和格拉迪斯·雷曼共同编剧，改编自阿尔贝托·卡塞拉的戏剧《假日之死》，主演弗雷德里克·马奇饰演死神，他化身为人类，试图找出人们为何如此害怕他。没有解释为什么他等了 5000 年才满足这种好奇心。　[剧透] 在短暂尝试扮演一个能吓跑路上的人的影子人物后，死亡出现在意大利别墅的一个高档派对上，乔装成神秘的西尔基王子。只有一个人知道他的真实身份，那就是主持人兰伯特公爵（盖伊·斯坦丁饰），他发誓保守秘密。西尔基继续让客人们着迷。由于充满智慧和诗意，他很快就会变得阴沉而具有威胁性，有些人很快就会发现最好不要太深地看着他的眼睛。然而，在王子在别墅的三天里，世界各地的人们奇迹般地逃脱了死亡，而潜在的自杀事件注定会令人沮丧。为了了解所有关于爱情的对话背后的真相，温文尔雅但天真的西尔基王子爱上了令人难以抗拒的格拉齐亚（伊芙琳·维纳布尔饰），她是杜克一位朋友的女儿。格拉齐亚知道死亡是谁，但并不害怕他，这让她的未婚夫科拉多（肯特·泰勒饰）非常懊恼，他对白马王子产生了强烈的蔑视。　马奇的表演比 1998 年翻拍版《拜见乔·布莱克》中的布拉德·皮特还要险恶，他饰演的令人毛骨悚然却又异常吸引人的嘉宾的表演非常令人信服。虽然结局很戏剧化，但情感却非常真实，死亡实际上可能是伪装成敌人的朋友，这一点非常感人。 在这个令人厌烦且可预测的情节中，死亡坠入爱河，让我们谈论它时感到无聊至死。 　我听说《德古拉》的广告标语是“有史以来最奇怪的爱情故事”！ （这大概是一个转述） 但内心深处，我从来不觉得你可以诚实地称那部电影为爱情故事。这个标语更适合这个，因为它最终归结为一个爱情故事。这部电影确实非常好，特别是如果你认为它是围绕一个可以轻松以可爱或轻松的方式处理的概念构建的。相反，它被尽可能严肃地处理，对死亡将如何尝试接受他当时完全不熟悉的生活和观点进行了一些真正的思考；大部分功劳确实归功于弗雷德里克·马奇（Fredric March）扮演的主角。当需要的时候，这是相当可怕的，尤其是在前二十分钟。从那时起，它以微妙、安静的智慧、持久的悲伤以及对死亡如果交叉时会如何反应的永恒紧张来处理其主题。它并不完美；有些对话是自觉的、做作的，就好像编剧们知道他们正在处理重大问题并试图变得深刻一样。但我当然很高兴他们没有试图把它变成某种音乐喜剧。 也请参阅翻拍版《死亡假期》 (1971)死神化身为王子，试图与人类建立联系，并在此过程中学会了什么是爱。死神（弗雷德里克·马奇饰）决定暂时放下日常工作，去看看做一个凡人是什么样的。他冒充西尔基王子，与兰伯特公爵（盖伊斯坦丁爵士饰）和他的客人在他的公爵庄园度过了三天。一些女人被这位神秘的王子所吸引，但当她们感受到他的真实本性时却回避了他。但是公爵认为要嫁给他儿子的美丽年轻女子格拉齐亚（伊芙琳·维纳布尔饰）却爱着他，即使她知道他是谁。感觉被人类误解了，也不明白他们的动机，死神决定以人类的形式存在三天。在事先监视了他们的聚会后，死亡向兰伯特公爵透露了自己和他的计划，兰伯特公爵允许他以西尔基王子的身份，与他和他的客人一起住在他的意大利别墅里，即使死亡警告其他人无法知道其真实身份并且他们不能在三天结束之前离开公司。在这三天里，死亡正在享受某种“假期”，无法履行其日常职责。随着时间的推移，公爵队伍中的各种年轻女性都被西尔基王子迷住了，但有些人同时感到了某种恐惧。然而，真正爱上王子的一切的是格拉齐亚，在他们聚会的早些时候，她拒绝了公爵儿子科拉多的求婚，因为尽管爱科拉多，但她还没有准备好与任何人结婚。接下来的问题是，公爵是否会信守诺言，不放弃王子作为死亡，即使“拯救”格拉齐亚免于这种命运，并让格拉齐亚走上与科拉多结婚的道路，如果格拉齐亚能够感受到一切关于王子，将拥抱他固有的和核心的死亡方面。在多年询问人们为什么害怕他之后，死神以西尔基王子的身份化身为人形，为期三天，以便他能够融入凡人之中并找到答案。在向兰伯特公爵透露了自己和自己的意图后，他在兰伯特公爵那里找到了主人，并暂时居住在公爵的别墅里。然而，死神却爱上了年轻美丽的格拉齐亚。当他这样做时，格拉齐亚的凡人情人科拉多的父亲兰伯特公爵恳求他放弃格拉齐亚，让她留在活人之中。死亡在寻求自己的幸福和牺牲幸福以使格拉齐亚活下去之间左右为难。在听了公爵和宾客们的恳求后，死神最终决定让格拉齐亚活下去，并恢复了原来的自己，一个黑色的影子。当他准备离开时，格拉齐亚选择与他同行，并告诉他她一直都知道他的真实身份。死亡宣告爱比幻想更伟大，并且像死亡一样坚强。他用手臂搂住格拉齐亚，两人一起消失在一道闪光中。