The Silver Screen Oasis

This is on of the first Essential movies I've watched in a long time. So many recently have been repeats from recent weeks that I just didn't feel like watching again.

Roman Holiday is just a terrific movie. It could have been just a 'cute little movie' but the stars and the director, and the scenery made it extraordinary. It's so hard to believe this was Audrey's first part! She was sensational. Such a regal appearance when needed, but so much of a free spirit in other instances. Her smiles lit up the whole screen. Gregory Peck was the perfect 'first love' for her.

It is also impossible to top Eddie Arnold in this. All the times Greg had to spill things on him, or trip him or whatever, never fail to get a chuckle out of me. His reactions are marvelous. Speaking of reactions, Audrey at the 'face of truth' or whatever it's called is priceless. What a dirty trick to play, but I guess she earned lots of points with her acceptance of it.

You missed a very enjoyable couple of hours if you missed this one.

BTW, apparently RO and Carrie were both pretty knowledgeable of it.

Anne

Dear Mrsl,
I, too, still find it difficult to accept that this was Audrey's first film, but I also realize after watching this movie that she was a natural talent in many respects. The first time you are in a movie, and you get to fall in love with Gregory Peck and be a princess? And pull it off in such a classy manner?

The fun Greg Peck and Eddie Albert have pull the storyline along with such smooth timing and banter that all the fun highlights and reveals the desperation that Peck's character wrestles with. I will never forget that last
emotionally- charged scene at the press conference. Can't imagine the last time I see my first true love and it's in the middle of all that paparazzi.

I love this movie.

But, it wasn't Audrey's first role -- she'd had really small parts in things like the Lavender Hill Mob, but I think her first starring role.

She could do more things with her eyes than most people with their whole face.

SueSue -- I was thinking the same thing about the press conference scene. She certainly wasn't expecting to see him there, and after she'd made the decision to go back to her 'real' life, with all the responsibility to her position, to see the man who could damage it? With whom she'd been most vulnerable? And then to see Eddie Albert take a picture with that very small camera, and wonder what else he'd captured? I could see that all flash on her face.

I think I'd run!

With what we know about the royal families of Europe, she'd be a great deal happier running right into the crowd and rushing out of there with Greg Peck!

But I do love this movie. Romantic place, romantic couple, romantic notions.

Anne said:

It's so hard to believe this was Audrey's first part! She was sensational.

Audrey Hepburn really was sensational; but this wasn't really her first part. It was her first featured role in an American picture. But she had a good deal of performance experience behind her, beginning with ballet, then progressing to several small roles in British and French movies. She created the role of Gigi on Broadway before hitting Hollywood with Roman Holiday.

I've heard that her spontaneous scream at La Bocca della Verità (the Mouth of Truth) was real. It was Gregory Peck's idea to pull his hand up into his sleeve, and Miss Hepburn's reaction of surprise was priceless.

I also love that this the movie was a Roman holiday for Willie Wyler's family. He took the wife and kids to Rome while he worked on the movie, and in scenes at the Fontana di Trevi we can see his daughter's in the background with the rest of the tourists.

Roman Holiday truly is an Essential.

What I find so wonderful about Audrey is her poise. It's not just her being a princess it is her "presence" in the movie. She seems so comfortable in everything. She's just a delight from beginning to end.

Best selection for "Essentials" so far this year.

Sue Sue Applegate wrote:I will never forget that last
emotionally- charged scene at the press conference. Can't imagine the last time I see my first true love and it's in the middle of all that paparazzi.

I know! It sounds silly, but I always put myself in Audrey's Princess shoes and wonder if I could have stayed as calm and poised upon seeing Gregory Peck and Eddie Albert.

I love this movie. When I first got into classics, this was one of the first ones I watched and it's because of that ending, that I try not to watch it too many times. It's just so emotional (I cried like a baby when I first saw it. I lost it when Eddie Albert handed her the pictures. I actually had to excuse myself and have a good bawling alone in the kitchen). But it's also because of the ending that I like it so much. It's realistic. They go their separate ways, not some crazy fluke ending where Audrey and Greg go riding off in the sunset together.

And yes, I just love Eddie Albert in this as well. The scene where she's beating up the guys with the guitar and he yells "Hit him, Smitty!" is just so much fun. Plus, I thought he was rather sexy with the beard. If I were Audrey, I may have had a hard time deciding between him and Greg Peck (but that's just me!)

mrsl wrote:

It is also impossible to top Eddie Arnold in this.

Anne


Forgive me but I thought it was Eddie Albert?

Indubitably, Mr. Holmes! Leave it to you! Sometimes I'm just typiing too fast to keep my fingers on an even keel with my brain.

Anne

I have watched this film for decades now and am constantly admiring the great supporting role that Eddie Albert delivers. This is probably the top-ranked one I can think of, and a lot of relatively 2nd-rate performances remain great ones, too. But his entry in the final apartment scene, where he's finally 'shut up' and swallows his words, and then realizes what's happened to Gregory Peck - just terrific. And his first scene at the table with Audrey, getting everything spilled on him.

In so many other films, those scripted scenes are poorly written and poorly staged, where one human must have SURELY caught on but they keep beating the dead horse with more and more dumb lines. But in this one, Eddie gets SO mad at Peck that he really isn't focused on "Smitty" but keeps getting knocked over and gets more angry.

Audrey's closing comments to her staff about "If I hadn't known my place, I'd never have returned" was well-written and delivered, too. She could have been far more terse and bitter for my tastes!

And yes, I'd vote for "MAKE HER COME BACK FOR HIM". But I'd never be convinced it would be a better movie. I think this is one of the rare "Perfect Films" I know of - where the filmmakers set goals and I think every one of them was delivered to us.

This is a terrific movie. I agree that Eddie Albert is terrific as the "best friend." To me, the revelation was that Gregory Peck could do comedy.

The whole cast is right on the money all the time.

The ending, oddly, makes me think of the ending of "The Third Man." That is a very different movie, but like "Roman Holiday" it defies the conventional wisdom of the hero and heroine automatically ending up together at the end of the film.

I guess I'm in the minority on this one. I am a big fan of Audrey; in fact, I'm a fan of all three stars, yet I could never warm to this movie, or them in it. Something about it doesn't ring true for me; I really don't accept Peck as a lover, I don't think he ever looks one bit comfortable in this movie, plus I can never get past Albert's fake-looking beard.

This is my least favorite of all A. Hepburn movies - I don't even bother to look in on it when it airs. Just one of those things, I suppose.

What a debut film. Audrey lights up the screen and is perfectly cast as the princess. I love everything about this movie. It's one of my favorite Audrey movies.

Judith!!!

I'm shocked!!!

I guess we all have one or two movies that for some crazy, illogical reason we cannot warm up to. Along with everyone else, I think the three stars are great together. Audrey is wonderful, and Greg is as handsome and leading mannish as is possible (hard even for a princess to leave). Have you seen Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall in Designing Woman? What do you think of him in a comic role in that one?

I'm drawing a senior moment right now, but I believe it was just last week I was the voice of doom on a movie everyone else was raving about, and my main reason was, I didn't like the three main stars, so I know what you're saying.

Anne

Ollie wrote: I think this is one of the rare "Perfect Films" I know of - where the filmmakers set goals and I think every one of them was delivered to us.

Ollie summed up my own feelings better than I can. I really do think it's a very nearly faultless movie. I adore it and have since I was a kid. In fact, it's one of those films that I have never lost one jot of affection for and I cannot say that about some other Audrey Hepburn films (Charade being the other magnificent exception )