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Roman Holiday (1953)

Director: William Wyler

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From Time Out Film Guide

This has the hallmarks of a Billy Wilder picture - Americans abroad, masquerades leading to moral transformation - and Wilder would doubtless have turned it into a blazing masterpiece. Wyler's style was not particularly suited to comedy - the film is a little long, a little heavy at times, the spontaneity a little over-rehearsed - and he simply makes a wonderfully enjoyable movie. Hepburn is the Princess bored with protocol who goes AWOL in Rome; Peck (Holden would have been better, edgier) is the American journalist who has the scoop fall into his lap; and Albert (the best performance) is the photographer who has to snap all of Hepburn's un-royal escapades. This sort of thing was churned out by Lubitsch in the '30s, on the Paramount back-lot; Wyler went on location, and in 1953 that was a real eye-opener, Hollywood's answer to neo-realism. The movie remains a great tonic.

Author: ATu

Time Out Film Guide


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