Review of Roman Holiday (1953) by Scott K — 05 Sep 2008

This film stars Gregory Peck as a newspaper reporter and Audrey Hepburn, in her first major role, as a princess. Both actors give excellent performances and Hepburn won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Eddie Albert plays a news photographer. It is interesting to see this early work of Albert's, before he became well known for his role in "Green Acres".

The script is familiar because many films that have followed have been based on the same general premise of a princess escaping her formal duties to see what "normal" life is like. This scrip is very solid the whole way through. It's reserved in all the right spots, where a modern film would tend to over-play things.

Dalton Trumbo wrote the script for this film but he was blacklisted because he was one of the Hollywood 10, a group of movie industry professionals who refused to answer the question, "Are you a Communist?" in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. The industry blacklisted these 10 people and kept them out of work for decades. When "Roman Holiday" won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay, Trumbo's friend Ian McLellan Hunter took credit for the story and accepted the Oscar.

The studio put its might behind this film, as they paid for the entire picture to be shot on location in Rome. This gives the film more authenticity as there are no obvious set pieces.

This is a well made film that is worth viewing in its own right, but it is fascinating to see the launch of Audrey Hepburn as a major star.