Roman Holiday (1953)

The greatest movie ever made..!

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Even though I like both Hepburn and Peck I've always kind of resisted seeing this movie for some reason. It was showing at Film Forum here in NYC the other day and I figured it was time that I checked it out. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I think all of the performances are good, not just Hepburn. Peck and Albert were both good and I think the Albert character was funny and provided an essential element to the success of this film. The only part of the film that does not work are the end scenes where the Hepburn character is publicly shared/introduced as a real princess. Royalty was viewed and revered differently when this film was originally released, but today those scenes feel stilted. Otherwise this is a light, carefree, and fun film.

ROMAN HOLIDAY is a classic romantic comedy. It is one fictional tale, and a beautiful lie which is composed of laughter and emotion. The film tells about a young princess who escapes during an official visit to Rome and make friends with a cynical American journalist, who only wants the exclusive story, but later realized that he was falling in love with her. Lonely young princess unknown European countries spend a magical day with an American journalist. The junction between the young ladies of high society and unpolished common man has already seen. I think the director was aware of that fact. For this reason his is paid more attention dialogues, comedy, romance and the main Italian city. I must say that the atmosphere in the film special. Scenery and the picture are at a high level. „It Happened One Night."Although the director made sure that this movie looks as natural as possible, simply is too much in common. Princess' love affair in the Eternal City is what this film gave a special charm. Tenderness, love and playfulness in one being triumphs over cynicism and professionalism in another being. If so ask things, this movie is really one magical trip. Gregory Peck as Joe Bradley is strong and masculine character. The change in the character is visible. That is great. I think this is the best show last frames of the film. Chemistry has succeeded, so his performance is more than good. Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann (Anya Smith) is slender and beautiful girl. Regardless of childish behavior, I think that in her character feels seriousness. She is aware of its obligations, satisfaction, loneliness and love. Romance in this film, I never would have called it an affair. This is truly a romantic vacation.They do not make more such films. A short break full of satisfaction.

Roman Holiday is, most of all, extremely charming. I figure it's basically the whole essence of why the world is still in love with Audrey Hepburn boiled down into one movie. It's light, beautiful, charming, and romantic. Gregory Peck is a great leading man opposite her, and the on-location Rome backdrop is truly extraordinary. The story is well-known, simply because it works so well and has been told so often. Two mismatched individuals from different worlds find each other by happenstance and slowly begin to fall in love. The reasons for this working so well come down to the leads and their natural presence in front of the camera. This was Hepburn's first leading role and she proves why she remains a beloved figure to this day.It's filled with many wonderful moments and vignettes, with Eddie Albert providing some excellent comedic support as a news photographer. The progression from one scene to the next feels like a natural day of two people getting to know one another. By the end, we know the outcome before it happens, but it doesn't make it any less bittersweet.

What can be said about William Wyler's evergreen comedy that has not been said before? Suffice to state that it never loses its luster, even though it is over sixty years since its original release.Every element of the film seems perfectly shaped, from the memorable Hollywood debut of Audrey Hepburn, to the nuanced support offered by Gregory Peck; a witty script by John Dighton and Ian McLellan Hunter, based on a story by the then-blacklisted Dalton Trumbo; beautiful black-and-white photography of a Rome that no longer exists by Henri Alakan and Frank F. Planer; and taut direction by Wyler that gives plenty of opportunities for the actors to flourish while retaining the mystique of the Eternal City as a place where romance can occur, however briefly.The film has memorable nuanced moments, from the opening sequence where the Princess (Hepburn) undergoes an apparently endless series of presentations, while trying to stretch her feet under her voluminous dress; the sequence where she wears pajamas for the first time and falls asleep in Peck's bed during a chaste night away from the palace; the sequence taking place in the sidewalk café where Peck keeps telling his witless sidekick Nathan (Eddie Albert) to shut up about the Princess's true identity; and the memorable moment at the Bocca della Verita (aka the Mouth of Truth), where Peck puts his hand in and brings it out abruptly, scaring the living daylights out of the Princess as he does so.Nothing actually happens during the Princess's night away from her royal duties; her virtue remains intact, and she has a merry time dodging the Carabinieri and her Secret Service officers, in a comic fight sequence taking place near the Castel Saint'Angelo, which culminates in Peck and herself diving into the river and swimming to safety. ROMAN HOLIDAY conjures up a world that simply does not exist today of comic Italians waving their arms about expressively, of obliging cab-drivers and locals selling everything on the street from water- melons, flowers, and other junk. In these days of mass tourism commercial interests have taken over, and Rome's innocence - as well as a lot of its allure - has been lost in the process. Nonetheless we can enjoy a nostalgic wallow in the past through this film.