Film Review: Roman Holiday (1953)
Of all classic fairytales the one that infuriates modern “wokesters” the most is Cinderella over its alleged sexism, although modern Western world could also reject it because it is based on allegedly non-existant issue of class differences. Such stories nevertheless still enjoy certain appeal in popular imagination, including one that use Cinderella concept in reverse, like the one used in Roman Holiday, 1953 romantic comedy directed by William Wyler.
The protagonist, played by Audrey Hepburn, is Princess Ann, member of royalty of an unnamed country which is on good will tour in capitals of Western Europe. The tour, due to Ann’s charm, beauty and subsequent popularity, appears to be success, but during last leg in Rome diplomatic obligations and protocol provide too much strain on her, resulting in nervous breakdown. She is given sedatives, but in her dazed state she leaves palace and starts wandering streets of Rome. She gets spotted by Joe Bradley (played by Gregory Peck), American news service reporter who at first believe that she is merely drunk and, being unable to discover her address, reluctantly takes her to his room to sleep it off. Later in the office Joe discovers that the girl in his apartment is actually a princess, whose disappearance is officially covered by fake story about illness. Joe sees opportunity for a scoop of a lifetime and recruits his photographer friend Irving Radovich (played by Eddie Albert) to assist him while he follows Ann who, pretending to be a commoner name “Anya”, appears to enjoy her time on the street of Rome. Joe, however, at the end have problems keeping the charade because he has began to fall in love with princess.
Roman Holiday is best known as the film that turned Audrey Hepburn into a star and started the series of grand roles that would make her into one of the grand icons of 1950s and early 1960s Hollywood. Hepburn, who was 24 years at the time and had rather limited experience in small roles in British and French cinema, took the opportunity to play princess with great enthusiasm and delivered strong performance built on her natural charm, aristocratic background and slender physique that had set her apart from voluptuous Hollywood and Italian film stars of the era. Her effort was rewarded with an Oscar for Best Actress, thus all but guaranteeing the continuation of Hollywood career.
The script was written by Dalton Trumbo, who had reverse-Cinderella plot in the film taking a fairytale turn not just because of the princess finding a connection with a commoner, but also due to the sacrifice made by hardened professional newsmen and photographers who at the end of the day do the morally right thing, despite denying themselves career-defining scoop of their lifetime. Modern audience, accustomed to very different standards of journalistic ethics in 21st Century, might find that part of Roman Holiday to be more fantastic than its basic concept. Trumbo, who had been recently incarcerated and formally blacklisted because of his Communist beliefs, had to front his script via Ian McLellan Hunter and John Digton; both men were later given Oscar for Best Story, which would be posthumously given to Trumbo in 1993 and Trumbo’s name later digitally put in opening titles in modern DVD editions. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Trumbo tried to purge Roman Holiday of any political connotations, except some bland statements about need for international cooperation and possible federal unification of post-WW2 Europe.
William Wyler was both good and bad choice for director. It was his insistence to make film on authentic locations of Rome instead at Hollywood sets that benefited Roman Holiday in more ways than one. Studio agreed on condition that budget be lowered, which, on the other hand, led to unknown but more affordable Hepburn get cast. Locations of Rome are, despite black-and-white cinematography, quite attractive and show Italian capital as a vibrant, tourist-friendly backdrop, very different from the place of poverty depicted in 1940s Neorealist films and symbolising emerging prosperity of Italian economic miracle, notably showcased through iconic Vespas. Wyler, on the other hand, wasn’t the best possible choice as direction, mostly because comedy wasn’t his forte. While his direction is capable, it isn’t too remarkable and many critics in later years stated that Roman Holiday would have been much better if directed by comedy specialists like Lubitsch, Hawks or Wilder. While there is humour in the film, it is much subdued and Roman Holiday can be mistaken for drama instead of comedy, especially in the ending which, in a twist of historical irony, matched the way romance of British Princess Margaret and commoner Thomas Townsend, alleged to inspire the script, ended in real life. Apart from Hepburn's standout performance, the rest of the cast is considered unremarkable, with Gregory Peck lacking chemistry with Hepburn and Eddie Albert being underutilized.
Despite those flaws, Roman Holiday is entertaining film that could be recommended even to those who aren’t fans of old Hollywood romantic comedies. In 1987 it was remade as television film starring Tom Conti and Catherine Oxenberg, member of real life royalty.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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