Roman Holiday (Special Collector's Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Totally Captivating Romance With A Magical Audrey Hepburn
Review: "Roman Holiday", would have to be one of my all time favourite films even from when I was a child. It really is a charmed production from A to Z and is as fresh and charming today as it was over 50 years ago when it succeeded in capturing a young Audrey Hepburn in the sort of ideal role that became her trademark. Indeed perfection is about the only way to describe Audrey in this role of the young beautifully serene princess "on the lam", from her tiresome duties on a state visit to Rome who just wants to have some fun and see how the other half lives. Combining with a perfectly cast Gregory Peck the two work magic on screen in a funny, touching, and highly romantic romp that takes us through one carefree day in the beautiful Eternal City where we witness the two strangers slowly fall in love. Despite a few small earlier roles, Princess Ann in "Roman Holiday", was Audrey Hepburn's first lead role for which she most deservedly won the 1953 Academy Award as Best Actress. In roles originally intended for Cary Grant and Elizabeth Taylor, nowadays it is hard to imagine anyone else but Audrey Hepburn as the naive young Princess having her first experience of life in the "normal world", or Gregory Peck as the young reporter who might just have had the biggest scoop of his life fall right into his lap. Put this perfect combination together with a filmed on location effort in beautiful Rome and you could not possibly find I believe a better combination for a romantic movie such as this.

The story opens with the much fanfare driven state visit of Princess Ann of an unidentified European country who is just beginning the Rome leg of her extensive goodwill visit. Overwhelmed with her hectic schedule where she finds herself not only meeting endless local dignitaries but visiting factories, schools and cultural centres the Princess quite rightly develops a case of hysterics at her regimented existence which she mimicks, as her assistant goes over the next days events with a "No thank you, Yes Thank you, Thank you very much" rehearsed reply. Hearing the local population of Rome enjoying the warm evening Princess Ann decides to sneak out of the embassy and see a bit of Rome for herself however she has been given an injection to calm her down and make her sleep and once she manages to escape she finds the shot doing its work and she finds herself collapsing on a bench in the Roman Forum. Just at that moment American reporter Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) happens to come across her and after first trying to help out the girl who insists that her home is the Colosseum, finds that he has to reluctantly take her home to his tiny apartment to sleep off what he believes is a drinking spree. However Joe finds he has more than he bargained for as news spreads through Rome of the "strange sudden illness", of the visiting Princess Ann which has made the embassy cancel all the functions that she was due to attend. Glancing at a photo of the Princess in the papers Joe suddenly realises just who the mysterious girl fast asleep in his apartment actually is. Alerting photographer buddy Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert), about just who his visitor is and that they both can make a fortune on the scoop of having a Princess on the run Joe plays along with the charade of thinking she is a normal girl and offers to show "Anya Smith", as the Princess calls herself the sights of Rome. Over the course of the day they visit the sights of Rome all the while Irving is taking photos of the Princess which they both intend to sell to the newspapers. However the deception begins to turn sour as Joe finds himself falling in love with "Anya" and after an incident at a waterfront dance where a brawl breaks out and the Princess is photographed hitting a secret service officer on the head with a guitar, he decides to not print the story for Ann's sake. When Princess Ann finally says she must return home Joe agrees to drop her off a short distance from the embassy without revealing he knows her true identity. Ann has also fallen in love with the young American not knowing he is a reporter but now realises where her duty lies and they part. Bringing a new assertiveness to her job as Princess Ann agrees to meet with the press th enext day to explain her "illness", and her amazing recovery. She gets the shock of her life when out in the audience stands both Joe and Irving as part of the press corps. Breaking protocol Princess Ann comes down to meet the press individually and without letting on to the others she "meets" Joe Bradley "officially" as one of the press men covering her state visit to Rome. The two indivuals then part company forever as their lives and responsibilities take them off into their very different worlds

As stated Audrey Hepburn could not have had a more charmed introduction to big screen audiences than she does here in "Roman Holiday". Despite all the talent involved in this Paramount production both in front and behind the camera Hepburn really is its body and soul and she more than meets the challenge with a performance of rare sensitivity, humour and total grace. She captures the naive and totally trusting Princess to perfection and it is a tribute to Audrey Hepburn's great skills as an actress even at this early stage of he rcareer that she manages to add so much dimension to her playing. This is best illustrated in the delightfully light touches that make Princess Ann such a real creature as seen in the scene when she looses her shoe while attending a state function to meet some important dignitaries and attempts to retrieve it without anyone noticing and when she wakes up in Gregory Peck's apartment and discovers that she is sleeping in his pyjamas and shoots her head under the blanket to see if she is wearing his pyjama trousers as well! Never once in her playing however does Audrey Hepburn allow us to forget she is a Princess and she is the epitome of elegance and serenity when dressed for her reception with the reporters. Her superb Oscar winning gowns by Givency in these scenes create the perfect image of a Princess while the Edith Head designed "day clothes", when she is out and about in Rome bring out perfectly the almost childlike charm of a young Princess enjoying life for the first time. Her scenes of liberation in Rome when she gets her hair cut short and attends the dance held down by the Tiber are also remarkable and she manages to keep totally in her established character even when she is smashing a guitar over a secret service man's head during the very funny brawl that breaks out! Obviously beside such a remarkable performance lead actor Gregory Peck had his work cut out for him in his only teaming with Hepburn. What could have been a largely colourless character beside Hepburn's Princess Ann is made by Peck's playing into a character we do care about, an inherently decent newspaper man who is tempted by the break the meeting with the Princess offers him but who instead grows to care and then fall in love with her. Peck's chemistry with Hepburn makes all of their scenes together a romantics delight such as their banter in Peck's apartment, the amusing motor scooter ride through Rome's crowded streets and the very famous scene at the "Mouth of Truth", where Peck actually adlibbed the scene of supposedly losing his hand to get the right startled reaction from Hepburn. Of course the city of Rome plays a huge role in this production and Paramount's decision to film in the eternal city was a stroke of genius that added so much to the look and feel of the film. Eddie Albert still best remembered for his work on the TV series "Green Acres", also scores well as Irving Radovich, Peck's photographer offsider in the deception and his many comical interludes add just the right light hearted touch to this romantic story. Director William Wyler a Hollywood veteran since the silent era who had directed such classics as "Dodsworth", "The Letter", "The Best Years of Our Lives",and "Ben Hur", really captures the true character of Rome here and makes the city a living part of the proceedings. Well known as a hard task master in his directing style the filming of "Roman Holiday", was not an easy task with the results often being achieved under very trying circumstances as the movie was filmed during the height of the Roman summer and often in front of huge crowds of curious onlookers where everyones energy and patience was pushed to the limit.

For anyone who loves romantic movies set in exotic places "Roman Holiday", makes unsurpassed entertainment of the first order. The sheer star power of Audrey Hepburn so ideally cast here will always earn this film immortality in Hollywood's hall of fame and it was this film that was responsible for starting the great love affair that movie goers (this movie lover included especially!), have had ever since with Audrey Hepburn. The perfect marriage of actors, characters, dialogue, and location rarely come together as well as they do in "Roman Holiday", and this fact is responsible for this film being loved by successive generations of movie goers. As an introduction to the legend that is Audrey Hepburn dont miss "Roman Holiday", it is a viewing experience I always cherish as I know you will too.


Rating:
Summary: Lovely, bittersweet romantic comedy
Review: This movie was Audrey Hepburn's big screen debut, and it's easy to see why she was such a sensation. (She, in fact, won an Oscar for Princess Anne.) She was both glamorous and wholesome, proper and sexy, with a trim boyish figure and winning smile. That she wasn't much of an actress would become more obvious in later films, and even in this romantic comedy Hepburn never could display the perfect comedic timing of, say, a Marilyn Monroe or Carole Lombard. In fact, in interviews Audrey Hepburn said that during Roman Holiday she could not cry for certain scenes and it was only an impatient director berating her that finally made the tears flow.
Nevertheless, this princess-meets-reporter flick bubbles over like the Roman fountains with charm and romance. Gregory Peck (as the reporter Joe Bradley) was also not a natural comedian, but he's handsome and seems to be having fun. Several scenes were said to be improvised by Peck. As Joe's sidekick photographer, Eddie Albert provides more of the slapstick humor. And Audrey Hepburn (as runaway Princess Anne) is undeniably lovely and charming. She also conveys such remarkable innocence. In real life, Audrey Hepburn was a chain smoker and had survived Nazi occupation and starvation in WW2. But in this movie, when she smokes a cigarette for the first time or cuts her hair, she really looks so virginal and innocent.
Director William Wyler was better known for his dramas (like Wuthering Heights or The Little Foxes, Ben Hur) than comedies (this might, in fact, be his only comedy) and Roman Holiday is accordingly more romantic than comedic. For a funnier,sexier, zanier rich-girl-meets-regular-Joe movie, Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert) is still the gold standard. But Roman Holiday is surprisingly charming and romantic, and the ending avoids happy ending cliches and is actually heartbreaking. The holiday for both Princess Anne and Joe can't last, and I actually cried -- like Casablanca, it's the right ending, but not the happy one.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: FYI: I was looking for the widescreen version of this film, but discovered that movies shot prior to 1950's were only made in 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Rating:
Summary: Roman Holiday: a sparkling gem
Review: Despite being in black and white, Roman Holiday is anything but boring. It's the story of the Princess Anna of an unknown European country who goes on an exhausting European goodwill tour. Tired of royal life and being a royal pain (in other words a spoiled child), Anna (played by the sparkling actress, Audrey Hepburn) escapes into the city of Rome. There she meets Joe Bradley, a foreign news reporter from America, who mistakes her for being drunk and tries to take her back home. Unsuccessful, he, trying hard to be a gentleman, loans her his couch to sleep on for the night, not knowing she's a princess. Joe, (played to perfection by Gregory Peck)upon discovering she's a princess, sees a chance to make some money and boost his career. He takes her on the ultimate romantic tour of the Eternal City, never expecting to fall in love with the dainty, beautiful girl. The story is pretty predictable, but is one of the most romantic older screenplays I've ever seen. This is one of those really good movies that makes you want to cry at the end. You'll fall in love with Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, and all the delightful characters of Roman Holiday, I guarantee.

Rating:
Summary: You're princess I am journalist...a cherishable memory
Review: A honey-sweet innocent Princess couldn't wait to sample an ordinary lifestyle, ran away, and hit on to a journalist for an exciting and romantic day. Time's up but they fell in love......

This is a very charming story. Audrey Hepburn not only earned her Oscar Best Actress award from this, but also her new haircut in the film became the well-known 'Audrey Style' in 50s and 60s. The DVD picture quality is very good, sound is beautiful, and extra features are sufficient. Compare to Hepburn's another best known 'Breakfast at Tiffany', this one seems missing a happy ending, but what could they do: you're the Princess but I'm a journalist, do we have future together or should it be a cherishable memory deep in our heart forever...... Overall, it's still a FIVE STARS rating. Excellent film.

*** Otto Yuen's DVD Special Rating for Roman Holiday ***
1. Film Rewatchability: VERY HIGH
2. DVD Featurability: MEDIUM
3. Picture Quality: VERY GOOD
4. Sound Quality: VERY GOOD

(Reviewed by Otto Yuen, 31-Jul-2004)


Rating:
Summary: Light, feel-good romance in Rome
Review: Since my family is going to Italy this summer, my father had us watch Roman holiday because of the setting and all of the landmarks shown in the movie. It was my first Audrey Hepburn film, and it definately will not be my last. In this ligh hearted tale, a princess of a European country becomes fed up with her duties and sneaks out to enjoy a day in Rome, where she soon meets, and falls in love with, an american reporter. This movie is incredibly charming and very romantic, with one of the saddest endings that doesn't seem all that sad. I would recommend it to everyone, regardless of age or movie preference.