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Roman Holiday

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"Roman holiday" redirects here. For the 1972 cartoon, see The Roman Holidays. For holidays in ancient Rome, see Roman festivals.
Roman Holiday
Directed by William Wyler
Produced by William Wyler
Written by Dalton Trumbo (story)
Ian McLellan Hunter & John Dighton (screenplay)
Starring Gregory Peck
Audrey Hepburn
Eddie Albert
Music by Georges Auric
Victor Young
Cinematography Henri Alekan
Franz Planer
Editing by Robert Swink
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) August 27, 1953
Running time 118 min.
Language English
Budget $1,500,000 (est.)
IMDb profile

Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy film.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a "Roman holiday" is "an occasion on which entertainment or profit is derived from injury or death; a scene of suffering considered as an object of amusement; a pitiable spectacle" (alluding to holidays devoted to gladiatorial spectacles).

The film introduced American audiences to Belgian-born actress Audrey Hepburn, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Gregory Peck and Eddie Albert co-starred.

The film is also known for its Vespa footage, much praised by classic scooter enthusiasts the world over.

Contents

[edit] Credits

The movie was written by John Dighton and, fronting for Hollywood blacklist author Dalton Trumbo, Ian McLellan Hunter. (Trumbo's name was digitally restored to the film's credits when it was released on DVD in 2003.)

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Princess Ann (Hepburn) is the royal princess of an unspecified country. She is on a widely publicized tour of several European capitals, including Rome. One night, she rebels against the strenuous demands of her official duties, where every minute of her time is scheduled. Her doctor gives her a sedative in order to calm her down, but she secretly leaves her country's embassy and goes out alone to experience Rome.

The injection eventually takes effect and she falls asleep on a public bench where Joe Bradley (Peck), an expatriate American reporter, meets her, but does not recognize her. He offers her money so that she can take a taxi home, but "Anya Smith", as she calls herself, refuses to disclose where she's from, saying that she should be taken to the Colosseum. Joe finally decides, for safety's sake, to let her spend the night in his apartment. Her regal manner and his amused reaction to it is the source of much humor. The next morning, unable to rouse the sleeping woman, he goes to work.

His editor, Mr Hennessy (Hartley Power), asks him if he had attended the scheduled press conference with the princess. Joe lies, making up details of the alleged interview until Hennessy tells him that the princess had suddenly "fallen ill" and the conference had been cancelled. Joe sees a picture of her and recognizes the young woman he had left sleeping in his apartment. Hennessy then threatens to fire him, and the two men end up making a bet that Joe can get an exclusive on the princess, which piques Hennessy's interest.

Joe is unconcerned about his sudden financial predicament because he realizes he is sitting on an exclusive story about his unexpected guest. He offers to show Rome to Anya, but not before getting his photographer friend, Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert), to go along to take pictures of Anya without her knowledge.

They spend the day seeing the sights, including the "Mouth of Truth". On a whim, she gets her hair cut short. She shares with Joe her dream of living a normal life without her (unspecified) responsibilities. That night, at a dance on a boat, government agents finally track her down and try to take her away, but a wild melee breaks out and Joe and Anya escape. Through all this, they gradually fall in love. However, Anya realizes that it cannot be. She finally bids farewell to Joe, without revealing her true identity, and returns to the embassy.

Joe, Irving and Ann in the final scene.

During the course of the day, Hennessy's sources reveal that the princess is missing, not ill as the embassy claims. Hennessy suspects that Joe knows where she is, and excitedly tries to get him to admit it. Joe, however, claims to know nothing about it. He is willing to make the sacrifice for Anya.

The next day, she appears at the delayed news conference, only to find Joe and Irving among the members of the press. Irving takes her picture with the same miniature cigarette lighter/camera he had used the previous day. He then presents her with the photographs he took, as a memento of her adventure, foregoing the money he could have made from their sale. Joe lets her know, by allusion, that her secret is safe with them. She, in turn, works into her bland press conference statements a coded message of love and gratitude to Joe. She then departs, leaving Joe to linger for a while, contemplating what could have been.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Casting

Image:Audreyhepburnromanholiday.jpg

A now-legendary screen test resulted in Hepburn being cast as Ann. After Hepburn performed a dignified, subdued scene from the film, the director called "cut", but the cameraman left the camera rolling, showing the young actress suddenly became animated as she chatted with the director. The candid footage won her the role; some of it was later included in the original theatrical trailer for the film, along with additional screen test footage showing Hepburn trying on some of Anya's costumes and even cutting her own hair (referring to a scene in the film where Anya gets a haircut).

The role that Peck played was originally written with Cary Grant in mind. However, Grant turned the role down, believing he was too old to play Hepburn's love interest. Later, the studio convinced Grant to play opposite Hepburn in Charade, where it became obvious that the chemistry between the two was as good as Grant had had with another Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn. However, Audrey Hepburn and Grant never appeared in another film together, although they became good friends and Grant considered her one of his favorite actresses to work with.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Image:Romanholidayhand.JPG

One of the most famous scenes in the movie is when Peck puts his hand into the "Mouth of Truth" (La Bocca della Verità), a stone face in Rome that legend says will bite your hand off if you tell a lie. In the film, when he pulls his hand out it is missing, causing Anya/Hepburn to scream. He then pops his hand out of his sleeve and laughs. Hepburn's shriek was not acting — Peck had decided to pull the gag he had once seen Red Skelton do, and had not told his co-star of it before.

Shortly after Princess Ann and Joe Bradley meet, she quotes him some poetry and insists it is by Keats. He insists it is by Shelley, and they have a bit of an argument. The quote is in fact from Mary Shelley's play Proserpine.

In the 1970s, both Peck and Hepburn were approached with the idea of a sequel to Roman Holiday which would have seen Anya and Joe reunite; the idea never came to fruition. The original film was remade for television in 1987.

The movie was filmed in Rome, on location, and at Cinecittà Studios.

It is sometimes stated that Roman Holiday was Hepburn's first American acting job. In fact, she appeared at least once on US television in 1952 — a CBS Television Workshop production of Rainy Day in Paradise Junction .

[edit] Cast

Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck

[edit] Awards

[edit] Award wins

In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

[edit] Award nominations

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Other use

Roman Holiday is also a 1931 novel by Upton Sinclair.

The works of Audrey Hepburn
Feature films
Dutch in Seven Lessons (1948) | Laughter in Paradise (1951) | Young Wives' Tale (1951) | One Wild Oat (1951) | The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
Monte Carlo Baby (1951) | We Will All Go to Monte Carlo (1952) | The Secret People (1952) | Roman Holiday (1953) | Sabrina (1954)
War and Peace (1956) | Funny Face (1957) | Love in the Afternoon (1957) | Green Mansions (1959) | The Nun's Story (1959) | The Unforgiven (1960) Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) | The Children's Hour (1961) | Charade (1963) | Paris, When It Sizzles (1964) | My Fair Lady (1964)
How to Steal a Million (1966) | Two For The Road (1967) | Wait Until Dark (1967) | Robin and Marian (1976) | Bloodline (1979) | They All Laughed (1981) Always (1989) (cameo)
Television
Mayerling (1957) | Love Among Thieves (1987) | Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn (1993)
cs:Prázdniny v Římě

de:Ein Herz und eine Krone es:Vacaciones en Roma fr:Vacances romaines hr:Praznik u Rimu it:Vacanze romane he:חופשה ברומא hu:Római vakáció nl:Roman Holiday ja:ローマの休日 ru:Римские каникулы (фильм) fi:Loma Roomassa sv:Prinsessa på vift zh:羅馬假期

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