Roman Holiday (1953)

Time to cross another movie off of one of the featured Letterboxd Lists. This time around we’re focusing on the 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list and another first-time watch for me with…Roman Holiday (1953).

Title: Roman Holiday

Director: William Wyler

Runtime: 1 hour 59 minutes

Released: August 20, 1953 (premiered at the Venice Film Festival)

Available to stream on: Paramount+

Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) finds herself on a tour of European nations. Exhausted from her grueling schedule that never allows her to go out and have fun, the Ann finds herself in bed. Her doctor tends to her and gives her an injection. His advice to her? Do what you wish for a while.

Well, Ann takes that to heart and decides it is time to go explore Rome. While out on the town, the injection from her doctor begins to make her sleepy. So much so that she winds up falling asleep in the middle of the city. Luckily for her, American reporter Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) happens upon her. Believing that she is intoxicated, Joe takes her back to his apartment for her to sleep it off.

The next morning, Joe oversleeps and misses the planned press conference of Princess Ann. When his boss tells him it was cancelled because the Princess was ill, Joe slowly realizes who it is that is in his apartment. Quick on his feet, Joe proposes an exclusive interview with the Princess. His boss agrees and says he’d pay $5,000 for it. In addition, he also bets Joe $500 that he’ll never get the interview.

Joe decides to play coy with Ann and not reveal that he is a reporter. In fact, he gets his photographer friend, Irving (Eddie Albert), to join him in showing Ann around Rome. While resistant at first, Ann eventually allows Joe to convince her into seeing Rome.

How will Joe manage to secure the interview without revealing his profession to Ann?

Will their relationship maintain strictly professional?

And how long until the royal family sends a search party to try and find the missing princess?

Admittedly, this is only the second film of Audrey Hepburn’s that I have seen, the other being Charade (1963). The fact that she turned in a performance like this in her first leading role, it’s a no-brainer that she won the Oscar for Best Actress. She is absolutely phenomenal here as Princess Ann. Gregory Peck shines as well and his chemistry with Hepburn manages to elevate them both.

If you happen to be a semi-regular reader, you know that I am a sucker for romantic comedies. Well, I’m even more of a sucker for them when they surprise you by not following the “standard” paint-by-numbers structure and feel somewhat believable. The ending we get here is one that I did not expect or see coming.

That being said, you know I try not to spoil too much. So please, if you have not seen Roman Holiday (1953), correct that as soon as possible. For it is absolutely deserving of its place on the Letterboxd featured list of 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

Well, now it’s your turn. If you’ve seen Roman Holiday (1953), I want to hear your thoughts on it.

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