Review of Roman Holiday (1953) by Matt K — 07 Apr 2018

Watched Feb 26, 2018.

Matt Kerr's review published on Letterboxd :

This review may contain spoilers.

This is the second film I have seen in the last week where Audrey Hepburn gains confidence after getting her hair cut short in Europe, upon which she is manipulated by an older man who lies to her for their own financial benefit, only for the two of them to realise they have fallen in love and these fiscal plans to be abandoned. However, where Sabrina (1954) gets caught up in massive plot contrivances, irrational decisions and suffers from not writing its characters relateable enough, Roman Holiday (1953) [god were these two extremely similar films really released a year within each other?!] is able to mostly avoid lots of these problems. Instead of actively going into the situation with distructive intent, like the formers Linus Larabee (Humphrey Bogart), Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) falls into this situation, and acts impulsively on what he sees as an opportunistic offering, making him already more understandable, *spoiler* his decision to give up his plans in the end more admirable.

I am of the opinion that it may be impossible to shoot a film badly in Rome (The Great Beauty is a personal favorite). Roman Holiday stands the test of time for a few reasons. One is its nostalgic tinge of Rome in the 1950s, a city that is ever changing yet hypocritically has also remained the same for a millennia. Another is its compelling casting, Peck and Hepburn both in their prime (sorry to fire more shots at Sabrina, but not something that could be said for Bogart at the time (sorry not sorry)). Finally, and most importantly, it manages to be pretty damn funny at times, although a lot of this is more likely to draw a sentimental smile rather than booming laughter. A compelling piece of Golden-age romantic comedy.