Roman Holiday was the film that made Audrey Hepburn a star. In her first leading role, she was very well cast as a sheltered teenaged princess in search of romance and adventure.
Hepburn radiates youth, innocence and vitality. She wins the sympathy of the audience from the earliest scenes, as we see how much she needs an escape from her drearily formalized and structured life.
The story was good enough to merit its Academy Award. Despite her youth, Princess Anne (Hepburn) is trotted about Europe for trite speeches and ceremonies by her overscheduling handlers.
While in Rome, Anne becomes a runaway, fortuitously encountering newspaper reporter Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck). Bradley, smelling a big story, enlists the help of photographer Irving (Eddie Albert), then takes Anne on a pleasure tour of the Eternal City.
Many valuable but embarrassing photos are surreptitiously taken of the Princess. But as Joe and Anne fall in love, he must reconsider his dishonesty and treachery towards her. Anne is also at a crossroads. Would she have a happier life with Joe and without her crown?
The biggest surprise that this film had for me was provided by Eddie Albert. Later known as a competent but unengaging straight man (e.g. "Green Acres"), here his character is excitable and bohemian, and even sports a beard suitable for a temperamental artist. The revelation is that Albert plays this character perfectly, and it is a shame that middle age led to his casting in less challenging roles.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Hepburn was frequently cast with much older leading men, such as Fred Astaire, Humphrey Bogart, Rex Harrison, Gary Cooper and Cary Grant. But Peck was closer to her in age, making him less of a father figure and more convincing as a love interest.
Still, Peck has an air of moral rectitude. That he will do the 'right thing' with her is never really in doubt. His character matches well with Hepburn's, as his advantages in experience and cynicism are offset by Hepburn's appealing innocence and vulnerability.
There are a few scenes in Roman Holiday that don't fully work. We are to believe that Bradley can convince his elderly Italian landlord to play soldier. At the press conference, Bradley and Irving have managed to be front and center of a large contingent of an extremely well-behaved press.
It is difficult to believe that Bradley (much less Irving) wouldn't publish a financially rewarding, career-making story. Anne, after acting like a child throughout, suddenly gains maturity at film's end. As was the case with Rome Adventure (1962), the ancient city is viewed completely from a perspective of a tourist.
Still, Roman Holiday is well directed, well written, and very well cast. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best B & W Cinematography (Frank Planer and Henry Alekan), Best Screenplay (Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton), and Best Supporting Actor (Albert).
1953 was the year of From Here to Eternity, a blockbuster that would dominate the Academy Awards. Despite its many nominations, Roman Holiday won only three Oscars: Best Actress (Hepburn), Best Story, and Best Costume Design (Edith Head).
Although co-credited with the screenplay, Hunter was fronting for blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo received a posthumous Oscar in 1993. (70/100)
Roman Holiday was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and Audrey Hepburn captured an Oscar for her portrayal of a modern-day princess rebelling against ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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