Roman Holiday

 

On the surface, Roman Holiday can come across as a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy about a runaway royal princess and the working-class schlub she falls in love with. On the surface. But if that were all Roman Holiday had to offer, then it wouldn’t be remembered so fondly after all these years, even factoring in that it was this film that introduced the world to the wonderful talent that was Audrey Hepburn. Before Roman Holiday, she had some bit roles and background parts, but this film brought her into the spotlight, and she would remain firmly there for the rest of her life, long after she had effectively retired from acting. 

I came to Roman Holiday late in the game. I first became aware of the film while reading about the Hollywood blacklist, where talented scriptwriters were prohibited from working because of their political views. One such writer, Dalton Trumbo, co-wrote Roman Holidaybut received no on-screen credit for his work thanks to the blacklist. This was remedied many years later when the film was released on DVD, but this was nearly thirty years after Trumbo had died. On top of Trumbo, Bernard Vorhaus, also blacklisted at the time, worked as an assistant director under a pseudonym. The Red Scare was a tough time for people with differing political views, especially in the entertainment industry.

Audrey Hepburn is a fascinating actress to look at her life and career. She was born into an aristocratic family in Brussels and spent much of the war years in the Netherlands studying ballet and raising money for the Dutch resistance. From there, she continued her dance studies in Amsterdam and then London. She became a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions that led to a few minor roles in films, including a famous bit role as a waitress in The Lavender Hill Mob opposite Alec Guinness. She was cast in Roman Holiday in part because she didn’t have any of the physical assets that the Italian actresses of the time were known for, namely curves. Wyler wanted to cast against that stereotype, and when he saw her screen test, he was sold on her. “She will be a sensation,” he said and he was right. From the moment she is on screen, all eyes are on her, and it is shocking to think while watching her that this is a woman who was new to American cinemas, inexperienced yet taking to the medium like a professional, at least from our perspective. We know little of what actually happened behind the scenes that hasn’t been filtered through years and years of nostalgia and revisionist history. Apparently, Humphrey Bogart found her somewhat inexperienced and hard to work with when he starred with her the following year in Sabrina, but that, too, could be revisionist history.

The film opens with an introduction to the Crown Princess, Ann (Audrey Hepburn), on a rigidly scheduled tour of the capital cities of Europe for her unnamed home nation. After an exhausting day in Rome, greeting long lines of people and trying to put on a visage of dignity for the public, she retires to her bedchambers, tired and frustrated. Her doctor gives her an injection and suggests that she do “exactly what you wish for a while.” So she secretly sneaks out of the embassy to explore the city and, as the drug takes effect, falls asleep atop a low wall where she is discovered by American reporter Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck). He doesn’t initially recognize her but assumes she must be intoxicated, so he takes her to his apartment to sleep it off. 

Joe has been assigned to cover the princess’s press conference but, in large part due to taking care of Ann, oversleeps and misses it. He tries to lie his way out of it, claiming to his editor, Hennessy (Hartley Power), that he was there. Hennessy strings him along for a minute before showing him the morning news stating that the press conference was cancelled because the princess has taken ill. Joe, seeing the princess’s picture in the article, realizes he has her in his apartment and that the story is a cover-up for her disappearance. He makes a lucrative deal with Hennessy for an exclusive, complete with pictures, on the princess. He will take her around the city, have a friend snap some candid pictures without her knowing, and come out with the story of a lifetime. This being a movie, things will not go according to plan, and an unlikely romance will begin to brew between them.

Gregory Peck was an established actor at this time in Hollywood. His first credits came in 1944, where, like his costar, he would get his first Oscar recognition in his first year. His performance in The Keys of the Kingdom brought him worldwide recognition, even though the film itself failed to make much of a splash. With Spellbound, The Yearling, and Gentleman’s Agreement over the next few years, it seemed like his star would continue to rise. But after Gentleman’s Agreement, his career had a few setbacks, and it wasn’t until a few high-profile westerns in the early 1950s that he bounced back and became a global sensation again. It was during this time that he was offered the lead role in Roman Holiday, taking over the lead when Cary Grant opted out. When he was brought in, Audrey Hepburn was already cast, which was the primary reason Cary Grant chose not to be in it. Cary felt the age gap was too great, something that didn’t bother him too much a few years later when the two co-starred in Charade. 

Peck was initially top-billed, with Hepburn’s credit relegated to further down the cast list. This was standard fare for a new actress, even if she was the lead. Sometime during production, Gregory Peck did the unheard of and insisted to production that her name be elevated to a co-lead position. It was the right call, even if it was not standard practice at the time. Her character is as important, if not more so, to the story as his, and the credits reflect that. Peck was the kind of co-star who was thoughtful and considerate of his fellow actors, something that aided him when he took on executive roles in the Academy later in his career. He was not afraid to allow a co-star to outshine him on screen, and consequently, it allowed his characters to shine all the brighter.

Roman Holiday could be looked at as a romantic farce, and on that level, it works well. But it is more than that. It shows us that there is more going on behind the façade of royalty than the poise and dignity that is put out there for the public to see. The 1950s were the early days of television, and we were just beginning to get access to celebrities and royalty in a way that was hitherto unheard of. For most people, they would have only seen pictures of royalty, maybe heard their voices on the radio. That was changing. It would only get more intrusive in the years and decades to come, coming to a head in the 1990s when Princess Diana of Wales was killed in large part because of the media. There are echoes of Roman Holiday in the Princess Diana bio-pic Spencer, especially the overwhelming burden of regal decor that she had to endure and how it was negatively affecting her life.

The best part of this film is not the middle section when all the comedic adventures of the princess and the reporter are taking place. Those scenes are fun and lively, but they are set up for the opening and closing scenes, which are the real heart of the picture. The opening where Princess Ann is trying not to show that she is fidgeting with her shoe is relatable, helping us see the real person behind the stoicism. The ending where she is in the same basic position and having to address the press without giving away that she knows Joe is equally good. Audrey may have been relatively inexperienced, but she does such a good job that it is practically perfect. This movie would earn her an Academy Award for Best Actress and cement her early on as someone to keep an eye on. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: William Wyler

Best Director: William Wyler

Best Actress: Audrey Hepburn (won)

Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Albert

Best Adapted Screenplay: Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton

Best Story: Dalton Trumbo (won - awarded posthumously as Dalton Trumbo was on the blacklist at the time)

Best Production Design: Hal Pereira and Walter H. Tyler

Best Cinematography: Franz Planer and Henri Alekan

Best Costume Design: Edith Head (won)

Best Film Editing: Robert Swink

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Release Date: August 27, 1953

Running Time: 118 Minutes

Not Rated

Starring: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, and Eddie Albert

Directed By: William Wyler