"Roman Holiday" (1953)

A fun and bittersweet love story, set in the euphoric post-War boom of 1950s Italy, “Roman Holiday” continues the streak of classic, character-driven cinema by the great director William Wyler.  After the success of 1940s dramas like “Mrs. Miniver” and “The Best Years of Our Lives” (multiple Oscar-winners),  Wyler turned his hand to romantic comedy. The result, “Roman Holiday”, boasts the same superb craftsmanship, great storytelling, and enduring characters we’ve come to expect from a Wyler movie.

What’s unexpected is the expert location photography in Rome, rare for the time, filmed in splendidly fluid camera movement, grand detail, and rich black-and-white contrast. You can sit back and simply enjoy the travelogue that forms the backdrop. But the laughs have an emotional edge, rare for comedies at the time, enhanced by a spry and heart-grabbing score by Georges Auric. “Roman Holiday” is authentic and believable, even suspenseful, an intelligent Cinderella story that may have you choking back tears even as you’re laughing out loud.

   

Along with the honest emotion of the movie, there is the subtext of today’s Rome, as Italy suffers a devastating disaster, which adds to the film’s poignancy.

“Roman Holiday” is leisurely paced and consistently entertaining. The young English Princess Anne (the 24-year-old Audrey Hepburn in her starring debut) sneaks away late one night, escaping her royal duties, to explore the excitement and mystery of Rome on her own.  Nearly unconscious from a prescribed sleeping pill, she is taken in by the jaunty, dashing American reporter Joe Bradley (a perfect Gregory Peck).

Each of them has a secret: she conceals her royal heritage by posing as a runaway schoolgirl; he is aware of her true identity, but pretends ignorance in order to write an exclusive story about her adventures in Rome. 

Together, Joe and Princess Anne (disguised as “Anya”) fulfill her dream to see Rome however she pleases.  They are joined by Joe’s scruffy, fun-loving partner Irving (Eddie Albert, never better), who is promised a cut from the story, and who takes undercover photographs of the crazy goings-on.  When an impossible romance develops, threatening to destroy the Princess’ stature and blow Joe’s cover, we wonder how the inevitable unveiling of their secrets will be resolved.

Hepburn deservedly became a popular sensation from this film.  She is charming and believable, both as a demanding young monarch, and as a wonderstruck and confused young woman first experiencing life as a commoner. No one who sees “Roman Holiday” will ever forget her strong, multi-layered performance, which earned her an Oscar. 

The story, by then-blacklisted Hollywood Ten screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, also earned an Oscar (presented to Ian McLellan Hunter who was a front for Trumbo).  It would be many years before Trumbo’s name would be added to the screen credit for this film.

There is a natural chemistry between  Hepburn and Gregory Peck, with marvelous support from Eddie Albert.  Wyler worked closely with each actor to elicit their best work, and aided them with his own little flourishes.   For instance, there is the famous scene by the Mouth of Truth, a carved face with an open mouth; if you stick your hand in the mouth, and are not truthful, your hand might come off!  After this raucous scene, Wyler holds for a few seconds on the carved face, to remind us of the untruths that continue to move the plot.

Roman Holiday has an underlying melancholy now which deepens the story when seen from a fresh, modern-day sensibility.  That melancholy comes from the fact that, today, Italy is suffering one of the most tragic effects of our era’s health crisis. The film’s locations generate a breezy atmosphere and admiration for their beauty. The ancient landmarks on display in the film, the abundant artistry, and the crowds of people as lively and carefree as their culture, remind us of Italy’s currently empty streets, of a music-loving people trying to preserve their musical heritage by singing to each other from their balconies, and of a civilization on the verge of disappearing.

The fact that some of my own ancestors were Italian makes the melancholy for me grow deeper. The movie perfectly captures the excitement of a foreigner seeing Rome for the first time.  My husband and I made our first European visit to Rome in 2011.  Like a tourist, I pointed at scenes in “Roman Holiday” in recognition of the marvelous places the two of us had seen: The Coliseum, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Tiber River, the street markets and the gelato stands.  The excitement of recognizing them also made a catch in my throat.

My late mother would have turned 19 years old when “Roman Holiday” played at her local theater.  Early in the film, when Princess Anne visits an admiring barber, Hepburn’s resulting hairstyle looks like photos of my young mother, smiling in impish innocence, dressed in clothes that resemble Edith Head’s designs for the film.  I can imagine her and her friends asking to have their hair styled like Audrey Hepburn’s.  This was my mother’s era: more innocent, concerned with things other than pandemic illness and enforced isolation.  In mourning the passing of that era, which is so aptly depicted in the film, I also mourn her passing once again.

In the film’s bittersweet finale, which manages to produce some laughs even as we hold our breath, so much is expressed between the characters, even though they are unable to directly say what they are thinking or feeling.  What few words there are, and the meaningful looks between them, say more than any amount of dialogue could have provided.

True to the ordeal we are now facing, neither of the characters are allowed to embrace. The social distancing in the film is mandated by social status and protocol, but we completely identify with their dilemma like never before.  And while “Roman Holiday” is a comedy, and not a tragedy, one can’t help but feel some desolation for these people, kept apart through no fault of their own, and hope that, someday, the rules that prevent these characters (and us) from embracing loved ones will be a thing of the past.