Year: 1953
Director: William Wyler
Country: US
Language: English
Audrey Hepburn is a silver screen legend, having won over audiences on a worldwide scale in the late 50's-early 60's. Though I've seen very few of Hepburn's films (just Breakfast at Tiffany's, Funny Face and My Fair Lady) I have yet to be impressed by her acting ability, as I feel she comes off as a dimwit, but not in a charming Marilyn Monroe kinda way. Perhaps Roman Holiday will be the film that changes my mind.
In one of her first silver screen roles, Audrey Hepburn plays a bored and sheltered princess, who escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome (Gregory Peck)
Roman Holiday is most notable for being written by Dalton Trumbo, a man who had been blacklisted as a communist as one of the legendary Hollywood Ten. He was not able to receive credit for his screenplay, even though he won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Instead, his friend, Ian McLellan Hunter, accepted the award on his behalf. Indeed the film is well written, capturing the public's fascination with royalty at the time.
Hepburn won the award for Best Actress that year, and even though I particularly love Deborah Kerr's performance in From Here to Eternity, I must admit that Hepburn did a stunning job in her role as a princess. She gives a sense of class, charm and a refined sense of sophistication to her role. One wonders if any other actress could do the part justice? Of course she is helped by the ever-so-brilliant Gregory Peck, a great Director in William Wyler, and some stunning cinematography.
Hepburn has indeed impressed me. Although I don't see her as the star Hollywood has made her out to be, I can grasp that she certainly has the ability to impress me. Roman Holiday can be slow at times, but its the kind of spellbinding chick flick that they don't make anymore.
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