starring Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn
directed by William Wyler
119 minutes
Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) is visiting Rome, just one stop on a trip in which she is visiting many European capital cities, when she decides that she's had enough. She sneaks out that night just after her physician has given her a sedative to help her sleep. She falls asleep on a bench where she is found by Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck), reporter for American New Service.
Joe gets her in a cab but she isn't lucid enough to tell him where she lives. He takes her back to his apartment. He places her on the couch and goes to bed. It isn't until the next morning that he discovers who she is when he sees her picture in a newspaper.
Joe is interested in getting an exclusive interview with Princess Ann. He doesn't tell her that he's a reporter or let on that he knows who she is. She hides her true identity and acts like she has run away from a boarding school.
Joe gives Princess Ann some money to get home but then follows her from a distance. She buys a new pair of shoes, an ice cream cone, and gets her hair cut. He eventually catches up to her and they spend the day together walking around Rome. They meet up with a friend of his who is a photographer. That evening they go dancing.
What they don't know is that her caretakers have called in men to find her. These men catch up to them while they are dancing. A fight breaks out, Joe and Ann get away but she decides that it is time for her to go home.
They meet one more time when she is answering questions for the press in Rome.
Thoughts
Roman Holiday was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. but both of those awards went to From Here to Eternity (1953). Audrey Hepburn won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Dalton Trumbo won the Academy Award for Best Story but he was blacklisted at the time and his name was not on the movie. This oversight was not corrected until 2011.
This is a well made movie. It has a light comedic touch. I enjoyed it but I didn't love it. The ending is a little bittersweet, more so for him than her, but not tragic.
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