It's amazing that you can read through all these reviews of ROMAN HOLIDAY and get the idea that this is an original story. Actually, a lesser-known film from 1943 starring OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND, ROBERT CUMMINGS, JANE WYMAN and JACK Carson dealt with the same theme--a princess steals out for some time on her own and falls in love with an airline pilot in Washington, D.C. (not Rome). But that film had a happy ending in keeping with its Oscar-winning screenplay's designation as a romantic comedy. Furthermore, Norman Krasna's script was just as witty as Dalton Trumbo's for ROMAN HOLIDAY and won a well deserved Oscar.
And yet here, among the many reviews, a few have compared the story to IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT instead of PRINCESS O'ROURKE.
Anyway, I'm a fan of both stars (Peck and Hepburn), but I've seen both of them appear to better advantage than they do here. Hepburn is vivacious and attractive as Princess Ann and Peck makes a believable enough newspaper man, but I don't believe either one of them gets to do anything memorable enough to support all these glowing reviews.
And certainly William Wyler has had more notable achievements in his long career than this fluffy romantic comedy with an unhappy ending. The only conclusion I can come to is that Hepburn's interesting personality on film is an endearing one--and magical enough so that can do no wrong as far as her fans are concerned.
It must be the overwhelming star presence of AUDREY HEPBURN that makes this one such a popular treat because there's nothing especially novel about the predictable screenplay--and EDDIE ALBERT's nomination is somewhat puzzling as he's done even better work in all of his comedies during his years under contract to Warner Bros. He's a fine comedian and actor who always deserved better treatment than he received.
To put it mildly, I find this film terribly overrated--unspectacular in its photography and after telling what is basically a slow moving and much-told fairytale about a princess and a commoner, it gives us an unhappy and terribly sentimental and sappy ending.
Sorry, this one's not my cup of tea. Not a glass slipper in sight no matter how much Audrey sparkles.
Summing up: Basically, just another variation on the princess and the commoner theme.
And yet here, among the many reviews, a few have compared the story to IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT instead of PRINCESS O'ROURKE.
Anyway, I'm a fan of both stars (Peck and Hepburn), but I've seen both of them appear to better advantage than they do here. Hepburn is vivacious and attractive as Princess Ann and Peck makes a believable enough newspaper man, but I don't believe either one of them gets to do anything memorable enough to support all these glowing reviews.
And certainly William Wyler has had more notable achievements in his long career than this fluffy romantic comedy with an unhappy ending. The only conclusion I can come to is that Hepburn's interesting personality on film is an endearing one--and magical enough so that can do no wrong as far as her fans are concerned.
It must be the overwhelming star presence of AUDREY HEPBURN that makes this one such a popular treat because there's nothing especially novel about the predictable screenplay--and EDDIE ALBERT's nomination is somewhat puzzling as he's done even better work in all of his comedies during his years under contract to Warner Bros. He's a fine comedian and actor who always deserved better treatment than he received.
To put it mildly, I find this film terribly overrated--unspectacular in its photography and after telling what is basically a slow moving and much-told fairytale about a princess and a commoner, it gives us an unhappy and terribly sentimental and sappy ending.
Sorry, this one's not my cup of tea. Not a glass slipper in sight no matter how much Audrey sparkles.
Summing up: Basically, just another variation on the princess and the commoner theme.