Favorite things about… Roman Holiday (1953)

The favorite film:
Roman Holiday, a 1953 romantic comedy directed by William Wyler and released by Paramount Pictures

The synopsis:
Princess Ann is feeling stifled by the confines of her royal family’s conventions. While on a publicity tour of Europe, Ann makes a plan to rebel against those restrictions and sneak out of her room to explore Rome. She falls asleep on a bench when a sedative the doctor gave her earlier in the night begins to kick in. She’s found by American newspaperman Joe Bradley, who takes her back to his apartment so she can rest, not realizing who she is. Joe soon realizes that none other than Princess Ann herself in his room, and he promises his editor that he’ll have an exclusive interview with her… without letting her know that he knows who she really is.

The cast:
Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann
Gregory Peck as Joe Bradley
Hartley Power as Joe’s editor, Mr. Hennessy
Eddie Albert as Joe’s photographer friend, Irving

Fun facts:

• First comedic role of Gregory Peck
• Dalton Trumbo wrote the original screenplay for the film but was not able to take credit because he was blacklisted. Ian McLellan Hunter took the credit, even accepting the Oscar that should have been won by Trumbo. The award was never returned to its rightful owner; Trumbo’s wife was given a statuette after his death, but it wasn’t the original.
• Frank Capra optioned the story in 1949 with the intention of casting Cary Grant and Elizabeth Taylor in the lead roles. He gave up the rights to Paramount because his own production company was struggling financially, and he was replaced as director because he was worried about working with a blacklisted writer.
• Cary Grant turned down the role of Joe Bradley because he felt he was too old to play Audrey Hepburn’s love interest. The pair would later work together on one of my favorite films, Charade.
• The film was originally intended to be filmed on the backlot, in color. Color was sacrificed in favor of black and white so they could have the budget to film on location in Rome, at Wyler’s insistence.
• Gregory Peck met his second wife, Veronique, just before filming Roman Holiday. She was a reporter assigned to interview him for a Parisian publication. They married in 1955 and remained married until his death in 2003.
• The “Mouth of Truth” scene was famously improvised by Gregory Peck, and Audrey’s reaction to the gag is genuine. Peck had seen Red Skelton pull the same joke once, and he and Wyler decided to use it without telling Audrey. This is the only scene that was filmed in a single take.

Favorite things:

• News-y narration in the opening
• Princess Ann slipping her foot out of the shoe… and losing the shoe
• Ann sneaking out of the house
• Gregory Peck’s face
• Joe noisily rearranging the apartment while Ann sleeps
• Joe trying to trick Hennessy into thinking that he’s completed the interview, not knowing that all of the papers are reporting that Princess Ann has fallen ill
• Joe’s snarky and adorable Italian landlord
• Ann freaking out when she wakes up in Joe’s apartment
• The script is so great. Full of witty dialogue.
• Joe’s landlord snooping on Joe and Ann as they say goodbye
• Joe following Ann through the market like a Grade A stalker
• The hairdresser freaking out about cutting all of Ann’s hair off… but then getting really excited about it
• Joe trying to steal the little girl’s camera
• Eddie Albert’s beard
• Audrey & Gregory’s adorable chemistry
• Ann flying away on the Vespa
• Audrey’s reaction in the “Mouth of Truth” scene
• Joe & Ann dancing
• PARTY BRAWL
• Joe and Ann’s heartbreaking goodbye (major sappy fangirl tears)
• Joe spilling his drink on Irving and tripping him in order to stop him from giving the photos of Ann to Hennessy
• Ann’s face when she sees Joe at the front of the hoard of reporters
• Irving taking Ann’s picture with his lighter at the press conference
• Irving giving Ann photos from her day with Joe

Quotes: (I really failed at writing quotes down while I watched this one, so there are many more great lines than these, but these are the few I took note of!)

• Ann (when the doctor is sent for): “It’s no use! I’ll be dead before he gets here.”
• Taxi driver: “You know bambino… WHAAAAA!”
• Joe: “Naturally, she thought that the indirect would not be as direct as the direct. That is, not right away.”
• Joe: “I plan to enter her sick room disguised as a thermometer.”
• Ann (upon waking up in Joe’s apartment): “Did you bring me here by force?!”
• The hairdresser: “OFF. OFF. Off…”
• Irving: “HIT HIM AGAIN, SMITTY!”
• Joe: “Why don’t you go home and… SHAVE.”
• Ann (when asked what her favorite place has been to visit): “Each in its own way was unforgettable. It would be difficult to… Rome. By all means, Rome. I will cherish my visit here in memory as long as I live.”

Bonus .gifs because they’re fun: