Holiday Affair

Even though he recently lost his job as a department-store clerk, Steve Mason buys an electric train set for a child he scarcely knows. It must be Christmastime. Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh are warmly matched in Holiday Affair, a seasonal favorite scripted by Isobel Lennart (later to adapt Mitchum's The Sundowners) and directed by Hope/Crosby "road movies" veteran Don Hartman. Mitchum plays Mason, who helps a child who'd otherwise find disappointment under the Christmas tree. The boy's war-widow mom (Leigh) notes the gesture, and she's drawn to the handsome stranger. But will she abandon the security that comes from dating a prosperous attorney (Wendell Corey) for the charm of this unemployed man who puts his money where his heart is?

• holiday
• romance