The mix of silly comedy and innocent love turns the viewer into a willing tourist.
Roman Holiday (1953)
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Reviews Counted:41
Fresh:40
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.2/10
Consensus: With Audrey Hepburn luminous in her American debut, Roman Holiday is as funny as it is beautiful, and sets the standard for the modern romantic comedy.
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: This classic romantic comedy introduced Audrey Hepburn to audiences as a modern-day princess. Stifled by her royal entourage on a trip to Rome, Hepburn's Princess Ann escapes to explore the Italian... This classic romantic comedy introduced Audrey Hepburn to audiences as a modern-day princess. Stifled by her royal entourage on a trip to Rome, Hepburn's Princess Ann escapes to explore the Italian city on her own. While incognito, she falls in love with an American newspaperman, Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck). When Bradley learns of Ann's true identity, he finds himself torn between following his nose for news--and turning her into a big story--or the growing affections of his heart. A hit in 1953, ROMAN HOLIDAY won Hepburn an Academy Award for Best Actress, and was also notable for its Oscar-winning story by then-blacklisted Dalton Trumbo (credited as Ian McLellan Hunter). [More]
Starring: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Tullio Carminati
Starring: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Tullio Carminati, Hartley Power, Harcourt Williams, Margaret Rawlings, Paolo Carlini
Director: William Wyler
Director: William Wyler
Producer: William Wyler
Screenwriter: Dalton Trumbo, Ian McLellan Hunter, John Dighton
Composer: Georges Auric
Reviews for Roman Holiday
Timeless, exuberant classic, with Hepburn's naïve sense of fun and perfectly charming performance matched equally by Peck's lauche and charismatic worldy American.
It's a beautiful snapshot into the past, both for the historic look of Rome and to witness the birth of the romantic comedy.
The Roman travelogue is pleasant enough, and Audrey Hepburn is positively peerless.
Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar and popular acclaim in this story of a princess who breaks free of the palace and has a fling with Gregory Peck.
The film itself is a classic of romantic wish fulfillment, exactly the sort of beautiful lie that Hollywood specialized in.
Wyler lays out all the elements with care and precision, but the romantic comedy never comes together -- it's charm by computer.
Hepburn is utterly beguiling in her star-making role opposite Peck in a delightful romantic comedy about a poised young princess of an unspecified European country who spends a magical day with an American reporter playing hooky.
Wyler's direction is heavyhanded (imagine what Lubitsch or Capra would have done with the romantic tale), but the actors (Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, and Eddie Albert) are charming and on-location shoot in Rome is major benefit even if the film is b/w.
If only more filmmakers would remember that not all fairy-tale romances need to have a pat, happily-ever-after ending.
A lovely little romance, full of fun and playfulness, stellar performances (Hepburn won an Oscar and Albert was nominated), and all set against the beauty of Rome
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