The film which is famous for introducing the world to Audrey Hepburn is a curious mixture of screwball and broader romantic comedy. Hepburn plays European royalty in the form of Princess Ann; a young woman who is stifled by the pomp and routine associated with her role. Therefore, in a fit of frustration and desperation, she takes advantage of an opportunity for temporary escape, just so that she can have a taste of "normal life".
Gregory Peck, on the other hand, plays newspaper man Joe Bradley. He's fallen on hard times both financially and professionally and needs a big story to raise his standing in the eyes of his employer. As Joe is making his way home following a long night of gambling, he discovers a seemingly drunk young woman helplessly wandering the streets. Seeing that she is all alone, he resentfully assumes responsibility for her at first. But, eventually, he realises who this young woman is and that the story he'd been looking for may well have just fallen into his lap.
A remake of sorts of the depression-era film It Happened One Night (1934), Roman Holiday retains elements of the odd-couple dynamic which sees a royal princess joined through circumstance to working man, Joe Bradley. Yet Hepburn's Princess Ann is much less spiky than Claudette Colbert's Ellie Andrews and Bradley is never close to being as domineering as Clark Gable's Peter Warne; as a result, the developing romance between the leads in this film is far smoother than it was in the original picture, which leads to a slight lowering of the stakes and a definite lowering of romantic tension. Nonetheless, Hepburn and Peck do make a charming couplet.
It should also be noted that this film has the distinction of being one of the few major 1950s Hollywood productions to be shot entirely on location in a foreign country, and it makes the most of its surroundings. It moves along at a leisurely pace and delights in the excitement and novelty of Princess Ann's care-free jaunt through Rome. Tourist hot spots are highlighted, most memorably the Bocca della Verità, and space is provided for comical interactions to occur between both the leads and a number of minor native Italian supporting cast members, most of whom speak very limited English. This interplay provides the opportunity for comedy to be generated as much through physical gesture as it does dialogue. The scene in which a flower seller is trying to pedal his wares to Princess Ann being a particularly notable example.
Hepburn is at her most whimsical and delightful as Princess Ann, a role which would set something of a blueprint for her Hollywood career. The combination of her youthful, classically beautiful looks, her regal accent and bearing and, just as crucially, her overt appreciation for mild mischief and gaiety make her both a figure of admiration as well as thoroughly relatable. This may well point to the fundamental juxtaposition which made Hepburn such a unique star, she was simultaneously attainable and unattainable, both abstraction and reality. It seems a stretch that someone as sweet, attractive, humorous and good-natured as the persona Hepburn created in this film could truly exist, yet, watching her perform, her presence certainly possesses a high degree of authenticity.
The script is well-written with some excellent use of repetition and verbal call-backs. This alongside the physical comedy provides for a thoroughly entertaining experience. The issue with the film; however, is that everything comes together a little too perfectly. It is pure, unadulterated escapism, but escapism through the mostly quotidian. There is certainly charm in this and, even at times hilarity (Hepburn's drunk acting in the early scenes of the film are simply brilliant), but the film never quite delivers on its early promise in which a little more depth was suggested.
To elaborate, around 10 minutes into the film, we witness an inner-glimpse into Princess Ann's life in which she is experiencing palpable emotional suffocation. She initially sarcastically and then increasingly disdainfully utters her verbal preparations for her meetings with a series of foreign dignitaries alternating between the reponses of "Thank you" and "No thank you" like some sort of demented royal parrot. Each time she repeats her response, there is an increase in panic and disgust culminating in a disturbing fit of hysteria. In this one scene, one can imagine how robotic and stifling Princess Ann's life must be. She is a free spirit, a lover of spontaneity and authenticity trapped in the life of pageantry and fancily costumed public relations. Alas, after this moment, the film becomes much more light-hearted, which makes the whole thing rather more fun, but also rather less consequential.
Gregory Peck, on the other hand, plays newspaper man Joe Bradley. He's fallen on hard times both financially and professionally and needs a big story to raise his standing in the eyes of his employer. As Joe is making his way home following a long night of gambling, he discovers a seemingly drunk young woman helplessly wandering the streets. Seeing that she is all alone, he resentfully assumes responsibility for her at first. But, eventually, he realises who this young woman is and that the story he'd been looking for may well have just fallen into his lap.
A remake of sorts of the depression-era film It Happened One Night (1934), Roman Holiday retains elements of the odd-couple dynamic which sees a royal princess joined through circumstance to working man, Joe Bradley. Yet Hepburn's Princess Ann is much less spiky than Claudette Colbert's Ellie Andrews and Bradley is never close to being as domineering as Clark Gable's Peter Warne; as a result, the developing romance between the leads in this film is far smoother than it was in the original picture, which leads to a slight lowering of the stakes and a definite lowering of romantic tension. Nonetheless, Hepburn and Peck do make a charming couplet.
It should also be noted that this film has the distinction of being one of the few major 1950s Hollywood productions to be shot entirely on location in a foreign country, and it makes the most of its surroundings. It moves along at a leisurely pace and delights in the excitement and novelty of Princess Ann's care-free jaunt through Rome. Tourist hot spots are highlighted, most memorably the Bocca della Verità, and space is provided for comical interactions to occur between both the leads and a number of minor native Italian supporting cast members, most of whom speak very limited English. This interplay provides the opportunity for comedy to be generated as much through physical gesture as it does dialogue. The scene in which a flower seller is trying to pedal his wares to Princess Ann being a particularly notable example.
Hepburn is at her most whimsical and delightful as Princess Ann, a role which would set something of a blueprint for her Hollywood career. The combination of her youthful, classically beautiful looks, her regal accent and bearing and, just as crucially, her overt appreciation for mild mischief and gaiety make her both a figure of admiration as well as thoroughly relatable. This may well point to the fundamental juxtaposition which made Hepburn such a unique star, she was simultaneously attainable and unattainable, both abstraction and reality. It seems a stretch that someone as sweet, attractive, humorous and good-natured as the persona Hepburn created in this film could truly exist, yet, watching her perform, her presence certainly possesses a high degree of authenticity.
The script is well-written with some excellent use of repetition and verbal call-backs. This alongside the physical comedy provides for a thoroughly entertaining experience. The issue with the film; however, is that everything comes together a little too perfectly. It is pure, unadulterated escapism, but escapism through the mostly quotidian. There is certainly charm in this and, even at times hilarity (Hepburn's drunk acting in the early scenes of the film are simply brilliant), but the film never quite delivers on its early promise in which a little more depth was suggested.
To elaborate, around 10 minutes into the film, we witness an inner-glimpse into Princess Ann's life in which she is experiencing palpable emotional suffocation. She initially sarcastically and then increasingly disdainfully utters her verbal preparations for her meetings with a series of foreign dignitaries alternating between the reponses of "Thank you" and "No thank you" like some sort of demented royal parrot. Each time she repeats her response, there is an increase in panic and disgust culminating in a disturbing fit of hysteria. In this one scene, one can imagine how robotic and stifling Princess Ann's life must be. She is a free spirit, a lover of spontaneity and authenticity trapped in the life of pageantry and fancily costumed public relations. Alas, after this moment, the film becomes much more light-hearted, which makes the whole thing rather more fun, but also rather less consequential.