二战如火如荼。美国犹太裔飞行员大卫的飞机在一次侦察行动中被击中，掉落在一个德占机场。大卫被抓，意外发现德军要利用收缴的美国飞机实施一个“特洛伊木马”计划，在欧洲投放足以毁灭城池的超级炸弹。即使力量悬殊，大卫和被俘的战友们仍孤注一掷，拼死阻止纳粹的邪恶计划。

先有爱情，然后是承诺，再然后才是面对面的相处。这是一次寻找灵魂伴侣的盲选。

在1850年，女孩亨丽泰改名换姓在美国的一所神学院当上了法语教师，开始了自己的新生活。然而她被揭发出于1846年在法国的普林斯汀家族担任家庭教师时，帮助公爵谋杀了他的妻子。

　　孤儿海蒂（Shirley Temple 秀兰•邓波 饰）和黛特阿姨（Mady Christians 饰）生活在一起，然而黛特不愿继续在照顾外甥女，于是千里迢迢将海蒂送到偏远的善终——海蒂爷爷（Jean Hersholt 饰）的隐居之处。因失去儿子而沉浸悲伤之中爷爷阿道夫 起初无视这个从未见过面的孙女，但随着时间推移，祖孙俩的感情日益加深。　　但是贪婪的黛特再次返回，骗走海蒂欲将其卖给他人作女佣。天使般的海蒂和主人家的病弱女儿安娜（Helen Westley 饰）培养出亲密的友情；另一方面，阿道夫也踏上寻找孙女的旅程……孤儿海蒂（Shirley Temple 秀兰·邓波儿 饰）和黛特阿姨（Mady Christians 饰）生活在一起，然而黛特不愿继续再照顾外甥女，于是千里迢迢将海蒂送到偏远的山中——海蒂爷爷（Jean Hersholt 饰）的隐居之处。因失去儿子而沉浸悲伤之中的爷爷阿道夫起初无视这个从未见过面的孙女，但随着时间推移，祖孙俩的感情日益加深。秀兰·邓波儿在这出流行的儿童小说里扮演小海蒂——一位聪明活泼、天真烂漫、心地善良的小姑娘。小海蒂在自己很小的时候就失去了双亲，成了孤儿，从小就由姑姑带大，直到五岁。她的姨妈厌倦了抚养小海蒂后，把海蒂送到隐居在瑞士山脉里不友善的祖父那儿。祖父刚开始时并不待见小海蒂，但后来慢慢喜欢上孙女。在大自然的熏陶下，小海蒂对美丽的山光和纯朴的人们产生了热爱，她用她的爱心帮助了性格孤僻的祖父回到了人群中。不久姨妈又回来把海蒂接走，把她卖给一富人家的残疾女儿克拉拉作陪伴。尽管被一个恶毒的家庭女教师欺负，海蒂依旧赢得这一家子人的喜爱，并奇迹般的恢复了克拉拉独立行走的能力，但从来没放弃回到她亲爱的祖父身边。 [1]

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)