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| Audrey Hepburn drives Gregory Peck by the Colosseum on the back of a Vespa on the poster for William Wyler's Roman Holiday |
A beautiful young princess visits Rome on her important European tour, but one night, under the influence of sleeping aids, she eludes her caretakers and comes to know an American journalist and a short-lived but invigorating adventure in freedom.
Roman Holiday is the enchanting, delicate, beloved masterpiece by American master director William Wyler (The Big Country (1958)). The film was shot in Rome in B/W during the city's glorious Hollywood on the Tiber era, - rather than at home on the Paramount lot in color. It was thought that shooting abroad, - which was very rare at the time, - would be so expensive, so that affording color stock was out of the question. Luckily, Wyler and co. made the right call; to venture to old Rome anyhow, and the city looks ravishing in B/W in any case. Wyler would also shoot his next big masterpiece, Ben-Hur (1959) in Rome, and for that epic, he was allowed the luxury of color.
Roman Holiday has such a sense of life about it, and it works on many levels. The plot may appear banal, but take a closer look. Especially the ending of the film, which in my opinion is one of the great movie endings of all time, underscores the film's mature position, as it really is a film about the adventures and follies of youth, secret experiences and romances and our keen, sometimes painful and sometimes honey-sweet memories of them.
The film's Oscar-winning script was written by Dalton Trumbo (Papillon (1973)) and John Dighton (The Good Old Days (1940)), but since Trumbo was blacklisted at the time, (due to Senator McCarthy's Communist witch-hunt), his writing colleague Ian McLellan Hunter (The Amazing Mr. X (1948)) fronted for him. Trumbo's credit was reinstated for the DVD release in 2003, and full credit for his many uncredited works were reinstated in 2011, (though Trumbo died in 1976.)
Franz Planer (The Big Country) and Henri Alekan (A Woman of Evil (1954)) photographed Roman Holiday with a sensitive elegance, and Robert Swink (Skyjacked (1972)) edited it to perfection.
The details
Rome plays a major part of Roman Holiday, and one of the film's charms is that watching it feels very much like exploring Rome at the same time. The grand old city is caught with its atmosphere, its people and its splendor here for eternity.
Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)) won her only Oscar as the Crown Princess Ann, which was the first major role of hers, and which made her a star. She is delightful and believably innocent in the part. Gregory Peck (The Guns of Navarone (1961)) is the picture of a gentleman, and also above question formidable in his part. Together the two simply look like what a man and a woman must have been created to look like, it seems! They suit each other, - and the screen, - like only precious few screen couples have ever done before of after.
Eddie Albert (McQ (1974)) does well as Peck's photographer colleague, who also finds himself under Ann's spell, and the two men's conspiracy and what it will all end up with is of course a key element of this treasured film's suspense.
Roman Holiday is a film that can be enjoyed over and over again.
Related reviews:
William Wyler: Ben-Hur (1959) - Perhaps the greatest epic film of all time
The Big Country (1958) - A big western gift
Top 10: The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Watch the original trailer for the film here
Cost: 1.5 mil. $
Box office: 12 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Roman Holiday also won the Oscar for Best Costumes, and it captured the imagination and hearts of audiences worldwide: It made 5 mil. $ in North America (42 % of the total gross, - surprisingly little for a Hollywood picture at the time.) A sequel was in talks in the 70s, but it was wisely shelved.]
What do you think of Roman Holiday?
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