Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps the most romantic movie ever made
Review: This was Audrey Hepburn's debut in a starring role. She was 24-years-old and had appeared in two or three other movies but just in bit parts. Here she plays a reigning European princess visiting Rome who would like an escape from her daily regime of official duties, thus the title and theme of the movie, a Roman holiday.Gregory Peck plays an American newspaper reporter living in the Eternal City. We first see him playing poker with his cronies, and losing. His relative "poverty" and Princess Ann's fabulous wealth and station present a formidable barrier to their ever finding true love and marital happiness. Part of the fun of the script is in seeing how this will play out and how their differences are resolved in the end. I will give you a small hint: very carefully! The script comes from a story by Dalton Trumbo who is perhaps best known as the author of the anti-war novel, Johnny Got His Gun. Trumbo was one of the "Hollywood Ten" who were blacklisted from working in the industry during the excesses of the McCarthy era. He went to Mexico and continued working on film scripts but under assumed names or had his scripts presented by "fronts." In this case Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for Trumbo and won an Academy Award for the story. Later the Academy awarded Trumbo a posthumous Oscar for his work. Long time Hollywood studio director William Wyler directed the film entirely on location in Rome. He has a formidable list of credits going well back into the silent film era including such outstanding films as Wuthering Heights (1939), The Letter (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), etc. His clear directorial style and his attention to detail work well here. The sets in Rome are charming, especially Peck's bachelor apartment. The bit players, especially Peck's landlord are excellent and the events are dreamy in just the way a romantic meeting in Rome ought to be. Wyler is especially effective in presenting Audrey Hepburn in the most flattering light and getting the audience to identify with her. Gregory Peck's character should be a bit of an adventurous rake who finds that love is more important than money or fame, but it is impossible for Peck to play a morally compromised character, and so even as he appears to be using Princess Ann for his own ends, his behavior is always correct. I was somewhat amused to notice that at all times Peck appears wearing a tie! Eddie Albert plays Peck's friend, a photographer/artist. It is interesting to note how Hollywood's perception of the paparazzi has changed over the years. Here blood-sucking, intrusive greed does not exist. Instead we have noble self-sacrifice! I have seen most of Miss Hepburn's movies and I can say that she was never more enchanting than she is here. She is gorgeous and cute at the same time, charming and impish, sweet, regal and very winning. In a sense she started at the top with this film, garnering her only Oscar as Best Actress in 1953; but as her fans know she never came down off that pedestal. Even playing poor Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1964), there was never any doubt about the quality of her style and character. This is the most romantic film I have ever seen, perhaps partly because Miss Hepburn is so wonderful, but also because the script in a sense turns the usual woman's romantic fantasy upside down. Instead of the woman finding that the man she is in love with has fabulous wealth and position, it is the other way around! The ending manages to be realistic yet romantic. There is a hint of something almost spiritual beyond what happens. So convincing are Hepburn and Peck that one can almost believe the story is true; and indeed I am sure that Trumbo lifted the essentials of the plot from some ancient tale. I have a weakness for movies about unrequited love, or love that goes on forever, or love that is caught at some perfect moment and lives eternally in that moment. Roman Holiday is one of those near perfect movies that plays beautifully upon one of these themes.
Rating:
Summary: Needless to say: all time classic
Review: ~I think there is really no need to introduce or praise this movie. History will tell (has already told) that it is one of the classic in the movie industry that deserves to be collected and viewed again and again. Therefore a superb DVD transfer is on demand. This collector's edition did a great job on remastering the original film to DVD format - crystal clear picture with almost all scratches and noises removed. Play it in your DVD player, you won't believe that you are watching and hearing an~~ age old movie. Both picture and sound are superbly transfered plus all the extra features - this is the best money you can spend on a DVD with the contents for generations to enjoy.~
Rating:
Summary: Classic Audrey Hepburn... with an Interesting "Backstory"
Review: This is by far one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn movies. In "Roman Holiday," Audrey plays a reluctant princess who escapes from her repressive royal life to have a one-day adventure in Rome... with Gregory Peck. This is a classic 1950s fairy tale romantic comedy. It's hard to believe that "Roman Holiday" was Audrey's first major film, because she's fabulous in it! She has a certain grace and charm that is unequaled. The Academy clearly agreed... Audrey won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Princess Ann. What most people don't know is that the script was an original creation by the famous screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo had already been blacklisted for refusing to answer HUAC's questions regarding his possible Communist affiliations. Trumbo was sentenced to a year in prison, and he spent his last few months of freedom working diligently on the "Roman Holiday" script. He was able to sell the script (for much lower than his usual price) by putting a friend's name on it. The money he earned from "Roman Holiday" took care of his family's needs while he was in jail. "Roman Holiday" is a fun, family-friendly romantic comedy. I highly recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: Audry is beautiful, but not as good as I hoped.
Review: I thought the role Peck played was a jerk.
As I was watching this movie, I remembered what Eliza from "My Fair Lady," said: "The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not the way she behaves, but the way she is treated."
In my opinion, Roman Holiday presents a contrasting moral view to the above quote from Eliza (i.e. it's who she is that get the right treatment.)
Rating:
Summary: A ragged edge or two adds to the charm
Review: No point in getting defensive about someone else's opinion, but Robert Horton (Amazon.com essential video) is considerably off the mark with his assessment of the casting of Gregory Peck. Gregory Peck's stiffness as an actor was always part of the package -- can't change it, or the whole persona falls apart. He's perfect as a foreign news bureau reporter, with a self-consciousness that fits the character to a "T". Mr. Horton suggests Cary Grant, who would have been 'way too slick and charming. As for William Wyler's direction, it's a perfect pairing with Peck's performance. Though Wyler was never afraid of a jump-cut, and the staging and continuity are a little ragged, we have to remember that this thing WAS filmed on location in post-war Italy, so it wouldn't have been the most trouble-free shoot. The actor who plays the hairdresser who snips the princess's hair early in the picture is a gem. As to Audrey Hepburn, this was the first time she rolled out that performance that she would essentially repeat again and again for the rest of her career. It was a limited bag of tricks, but each gesture, each look, each line delivered with that accent, was miraculous. Do I adore Audrey Hepburn? Yes I do.
Rating:
Summary: One of The greatest romantic comedies of all time
Review: What a majestic and graceful screen presence of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck! What a surreal romantic escapade!!
Very well written script and cinematography passed the time test for over fifty years and going.
Gregory Peck gives one of his signature style of delivery along with perfect cast Audrey Hepburn.
Will there ever be another Roman Holiday of modern time?
Rating:
Summary: One of The greatest romantic comedies of all time
Review: What a majestic screen presence of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck! What a surreal romantic escapade!!
Very well written script and cinematography passed the time test for over fifty years and going.
Gregory Peck gives one of his signature style of delivery along with perfect cast Audrey Hepburn.
Will there ever be another Roman Holiday of modern time?
Rating:
Summary: Audrey Hepburn was irresistable from the start
Review: This film is where Audrey got her start in Hollywood stardom.Anyone whoever sees this movie is captivated by her good looks and perfect manners.She is the perfect girl to take home to mother.Gregory Peck does a fantastic job in this film, and was so impressed with Audrey,he told Paramount Films to give her top billing along with his name.I can see why.I would definately recommend this movie to anyone who has never seen Audrey Hepburn.
Rating:
Summary: Take me to Italy
Review: When considering a classic movie that has ties to reality, Roman Holiday is a first class ticket. Perhaps the best part of this film is the scenery. Set in Rome, the film's stars take us on a tour of the Italian City. From the Trevi Fountain to the Roman Ruins, this classic love story has it all. A definite affair to remember.
Rating:
Summary: One of the screen's great romantic comedies
Review: ROMAN HOLIDAY is without any question one of the greatest Romantic fantasies in the history of film. The story of a European princess who manages to escape her handlers and experience a single day living as a normal, everyday things-managing to fall in love with someone with whom her position forbade her to have a relationship with-could have been trite in the hands of less perfect performers. It is hard to imagine any actress who could have been more convincing as royalty, yet more adorable while living one day as a comparable nobody. When she leaves Gregory Peck near the end of the film to return to her royal duties, your heart breaks for her, and her resumption of her royal role feels as self-sacrificial and heroic as any act of bravery one can imagine. Audrey Hepburn single handedly makes this a great film, with some great assists. She is completely irresistible. A member of royalty sneaking away to enjoy a day with the common people is much harder to pull off than one might imagine, and it would have been quite simple to have made of this film something that was silly and unwatchable. But from the moment we first see Audrey Hepburn lose her shoe while surreptitiously attempting to scratch her ankle with her foot, our heart and our sympathy belongs to her. Just as Joe (Gregory Peck's character) does later, we want to protect her and comfort her, and allow her to enjoy the joys of life that her position in life has denied her. This was not her first film, but it was major role, and it has to count as one of the great major screen debuts in film history, rivaling that of James Dean in EAST OF EDEN. While absolutely no one can question the perfection of Audrey Hepburn starring in this film, I have always been surprised at the criticism of Gregory Peck in his role. While I will grant that Cary Grant might have been slightly better in the role (but, then, how many movies would that not have been true of?), I still find Peck's performance to be excellent. Moreover, without casting Gregory Peck, the film would have lost the most famous scene, where Peck pretends to lose his hand in the mouth of the carving in the wall. That was not in the script, and everyone agrees that he adlibbed it on the spot. Hepburn's startled reaction was more believable because she was genuinely shocked. There is a third star as well: the city of Rome. I know of no film in which Rome looks more enchanting and more magical. Many films portray Paris in alluring fashion, but this is the great film about Rome. The original story was by Dalton Trumbo, who was in 1953 on the Hollywood Blacklist for refusing to name names and for his leftist politics, so the story credit is given to Ian McLellan Hunter, who fronted for Trumbo. Hunter won the Oscar for Best Writing for a Motion Picture Story. Trumbo also won an Oscar for THE BRAVE ONE writing under the fake name Robert Rich.
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