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| Roman Holiday (1953) |
For as much as I've said there are certain things about these older movies I don't quite like that much, there's a lot about them that I love; these elements that add that extra layer of charm to the proceedings. The way the opening credits are basically the closing credits, with grand orchestra accompanying them. How they often play like a theatre piece, with not a lot of big set pieces or high budget effects. The black-and-white nature of this film in particular adds a lot to that, but what's the most impressive thing about this movie is perhaps how the rest of the movie doesn't really feel stuck in the 1950s. With a few tweaks, this movie could be made in basically any time period and it would likely have the same effect. There's not a lot here that feels dated or awkward by today's standards, if anything, though I'll touch on that a little later on. That being said, I'm glad this is a 50s movie, and it goes back to that word I mentioned earlier: charm. This is such a charming movie, it's just so likeable.
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| Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann |
The story itself is a fairly simple one, at least on the surface. Princess gets tired of her royal duties, has a day out in Rome with a man. That's the surface layer, and summing the plot up in such a matter-of-fact way really doesn't do the movie any favours. There's also the fact that the man is hiding the fact that he's a reporter and is using the opportunity to get a scoop with the Princess while pretending he doesn't know who she is because he owes a lot of people money and wants to go back to New York but at the same time they begin to fall in love but she knows she has duties and needs to go back to her life... there's a lot going on here. So much so that the money problems are almost tossed aside in the final act, which is a bit annoying since that was such a big part of his character and I would have liked some resolution. Not necessarily that all his money problems are solved, but even addressing it in the last few scenes would have been enough. That being said, it's used more to service the romance plot, which is very believable. Without going into details, it's a real romance, it feels incredibly natural. I can't stress enough, they know each other for a day, and there's no forced dialogue about how much they mean to each other, I don't think they even use the words 'I love you' at all. It's so intelligently written, significantly better than a lot of forced romances in a lot of other movies I've seen.
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| Hartley Power as Hennessy |
In fact, I may not have given the writing enough credit; there's a reason this script won an Oscar. You may have noticed, when I was doing my spiel about the plot, both of the characters are hiding information from their partner, effectively or otherwise. Normally in a romantic comedy like this, the third act hinges in some way on this information being revealed and there's a big argument and a bunch of the last part of the movie is the two of them apart and they're moping around until eventually they go back to each other and it's so contrived and overplayed and I hate it every time. So knowing that the bulk of this movie runs on hidden information, I was just waiting for it, I was waiting for the reveal to come and the big argument and the moping and doping around and, in general, for a disappointing third act. And... nothing. It doesn't happen. They completely dodged the cliche when I was sitting here thinking this might have been the movie that invented it and I would have even more reason to hate it. So, when I tell you that the final scene of this movie is literal perfection, at least for a movie like this, understand just how big that is. It is absolutely perfect; I wouldn't change a single thing about it. This is what all romantic comedies should be. When they fall back into the well of overused cliches that pop up in every other romantic comedy and there's nothing of substance otherwise, they're torture. When they're clever, dodge the cliches and do something unique, they can be beauteous.
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| Gregory Peck as Joe |
The acting across the board is excellent, to boot. Gregory Peck has maybe the quintessential black-and-white-movie voice, and his presence in general is powerful. He sort of plays the every-man here, and it works for what the movie's going for; going too over-the-top with a role like this would have killed it. He also nails the dry humour the movie likes to go for with his character. He also has excellent chemistry with Audrey Hepburn, and it's easy to see why she was such a sensation in decades past. She really brought this regal role down-to-earth, and she nailed about every aspect of the character. When she's hilariously drowsy, the wide-eyed fish-out-of-water or the respected princess, she's great in all parts. I also want to mention Eddie Albert as Irving. In a movie that wasn't particularly laugh-out-loud, a lot of his scenes really cracked me up, particularly when he's working off Peck. Their friendship is something that isn't really brought to the forefront in this story, but I really bought it. The scene with them geeking out over the pictures specifically was something that added a lot to that dynamic.
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| Eddie Albert as Irving |
I'm just as surprised as anyone when I say that I loved Roman Holiday (1953). As someone who doesn't particularly care for older movies or romantic comedies, this was just amazing. It's such a feel-good movie, and I'm sure to be coming back to this again in the future. 9.5/10.
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