Released on August 27, 1953, Roman Holiday is probably best known as the film that introduced American audiences to Audrey Hepburn. Director/producer William Wyler (Ben-Hur) had originally wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role of Princess Ann (‘Anya Smith’) but Hepburn was cast after a screen test. After she had performed a dignified, subdued scene from the film, the director called “cut”, but the cameraman left the camera rolling, showing the young actress suddenly becoming animated as she chatted with the director. The candid footage won her the role; some of it was later included in the original theatrical trailer for the film, along with additional screen test footage showing Hepburn trying on some of Anya’s costumes and even cutting her own hair (referring to a scene in the film where Anya gets a haircut).
Gregory Peck, who at the time was a much bigger star, insisted that Hepburn get equal billing on the film. Peck seemed to understand, that the young actress was going to emerge from the film a star. Emerge a star she did. From the moment American moviegoers saw Audrey on screen, they were enraptured by this thin, elfin like person who would become the epitome of style and grace for a whole generation of women. For her role as Princess Ann, Audrey Hepburn was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress.
In Roman Holiday, Princess Ann (Hepburn) runs away from her royal duties and pretends to be an ordinary girl in Rome. Without her regal dresses and crown, she manages to escape most people´s attention. However, Joe Bradley (Peck), an American reporter, recognizes her, befriends her, and hopes to write a story about his adventures with a member of European royalty. They are joined by Joe´s friend, a photographer (Eddie Albert). Together, the three travel around town, taking in the sights while Ann learns that she can´t expect people to wait on her if she wants to be “ordinary”.
As a longtime Audrey Hepburn fan, I’ve always found Roman Holiday to be light, fun entertainment. While the film is fun, it avoids drifting into just plain silly territory because of Joe’s initial intention to use Ann as a way to advance his career. Hepburn plays her role with an effortlessness and ease that isn’t seen in her later films. Perhaps because this was her first big film and she hadn’t yet established an identity, she didn’t feel the pressure to be the fashion icon and graceful ingénue she would later become. As Ann, Audrey exhibits a natural playfulness and youthful charm that makes Roman Holiday fun to watch.
Was Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of Princess Ann truly worthy of a Best Actress Oscar? Truth be told, probably not. There are no truly great dramatic scenes or moments that show her full talents as an actress. The fact is Audrey likely took home an Oscar because of engaging screen manner. However, if wit and charm garner a lot of Oscar votes, Hepburn exudes both those traits in Roman Holiday.
If the film has one drawback, it runs a bit too long. At two hours, it’s probably about ten or fifteen minutes too long. The film gets a bit redundant in telling the audience that Joe and Ann are falling in love. Believe me, their actions and the look in their eyes tell us that, almost from the beginning.
Due to widespread filmmaking practices of the time, the 1.33:1 (full-frame on 4:3 monitors) black-and-white image often looks a bit soft in order to accentuate the “glow” of the film´s female star. This leads to the appearance of harsh lighting, especially with close-up shots of Audrey Hepburn´s face. Otherwise, the picture looks wonderful–great details, well-rendered shadows, and a nice range of blacks, whites, and grays. The occasional slight jitter doesn´t have much of an effect on the viewing experience.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English audio track is pretty good, but it’s not great. The dynamic range is noticeably limited, with thin voices, shaky-sounding music, and hollow low-ends. Understandably, there is almost no directionality whatsoever. I didn´t hear much hiss, and there weren´t any pops.
The second disc contains the special features. Of the extra features from the 2002 disc, only Restoring Roman Holiday and the collection of theatrical trailers is carried over to the 2008 disc. Both the 26-minute “Remembering Roman Holiday” featurette and the 14-minute “Edith Head – The Paramount Years” have been dropped, in favor of shorter, less Roman Holiday-centric programs on similar subjects. However, “Edith Head: The Paramount Years” can be found on the new Sunset Boulevard set.
The disc leads with two Audrey Hepburn featurettes, Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years (30 minutes) and Remembering Audrey (12:10). The first covers her biography and her road to Hollywood, through her contract with Paramount that kicked off with her making Roman Holiday. The story line follows her meeting Mel Ferrer, working with Givenchy, and the six movies she made for the studio, including Sabrina and all the way to Paris, When It Sizzles. Vintage photos, wardrobe screentests, and newsreel footage (including her Oscar win) are mixed in with various talking heads, most notably producer A.C. Lyles and actress Stefanie Powers. Remembering is more personal, with her son Sean Ferrer and late-in-life companion Robert Wolders talking about their lives with the icon and their thoughts on her background.
Rome with a Princess (9 minutes) is a new featurette replacing the much longer old documentary about the movie from the 2002 DVD. The focus this time, though, is on the geography rather than the film’s production.
A welcome piece about Dalton Trumbo, the writer who was blacklisted and thus could not have his credit on Roman Holiday for nearly 50 years, is here as Dalton Trumbo: From A-List to Blacklist (12 minutes). The career and personal passions of the author of Johnny Got His Gun are discussed by folks like Allan Rich and Marsha Hunt, a blacklisted writer and actress, respectively; Jean Porter Dmytryk and Betty Garrett, wives of blacklisted artists; writer and filmmaker Nicholas Myer; and film professor Jonathan Kuntz.
The 5-minute Behind the Gates: Costumes, looking through the studio archives at some of the famous outfits from popular Paramount films, including outfits as recent as Forrest Gump. In line with this is Paramount in the ’50s, (9:35) a retrospective looking at famous films from the decade, many of which are to be included in this new Centennial Collection, a gathering of re-releases with new sequential spine numbers. (Roman Holiday is #2.) In fact, the latter documentary is also on the #1 and #3 entries in this collection, Sunset Boulevard and Sabrina, respectively.
The Stills Gallery features four sections: Production, The Movie, Publicity, and The Premiere.
