Summary
Ann (Audrey Hepburn) is a royal princess of an unnamed European country. One night in Rome, during a tour of the European capitals, she feels overwhelmed by her duties as a princess, she decides to sneak out of her country’s embassy and explore Rome.
Joe (Gregory Peck) is an American journalist finds a woman sleeping in the street. He tries to find out where she is staying, but when she refuses to cooperate, he lets her stay in his apartment for the night.
The next day, Joe finds out that the princess, whose press conference he was supposed to attend, was supposedly taken ill, according to a statement released by the embassy. After seeing the story and the princess’ photo printed on the paper, he realizes that this isn’t true and that the woman he let into his apartment is actually the princess. Along with his photographer friend (Eddie Albert), he decides to exploit Ann – who has introduced herself as Anya Smith – to get an exclusive story on the princess.
Review
Audrey Hepburn is one of my favorite actresses from Hollywood’s golden era, so I may be biased with this review. She is brilliant, as usual. I’ve seen many of Audrey Hepburn’s films, but this one is my most favorite. She captures the role of an innocent, naive, and sheltered girl perfectly.
Gregory Peck was great as well. He was amusing, which was somehow new for Gregory Peck, since Peck usually takes on more serious roles. While he was great, I have to say that the real star here was Audrey Hepburn. The Oscar award that Audrey got for this role was well-deserved, and I’m sure Gregory Peck saw that too, since he insisted on having an equal billing with Audrey Hepburn instead of the initial solo-star billing for Peck that was agreed upon. There also was a lot of genuine chemistry there, or maybe a mutual respect that caused them to slide into their roles with ease.
The story is charming. Joe doesn’t fall for Ann immediately, they gradually build-up the plot from the beginning, so the romance between the pair doesn’t seem forced. It wasn’t too dragged out, the scenes can make you smile, and unlike other princess movies, it has an atypical and realistic ending. It makes me want to go to Rome – if only to walk down the streets and sidewalks that Joe and Anya once walked along.
I love classic movies. I’ve tried to convince other people that classic movies aren’t boring, and most of the time, I make them watch Roman Holiday to prove my point. Most of the people I’ve lent the DVD to have ended up loving this movie as well.
