IMDb > Roman Holiday (1953)
Roman Holiday
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Roman Holiday (1953) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 47 | slideshow) Videos (see all 6)
Roman Holiday (1953) -- A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome.
Roman Holiday (1953) -- Clip: Today is going to be a holiday
Roman Holiday (1953) -- Trailer: #2
Roman Holiday (1953) -- Trailer: #1
Roman Holiday (1953) -- Trailer: Audrey Hepburn

IMDb Holiday Movie Guide

Overview

User Rating:
8.1/10   28,157 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 2% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers (WGA):
Dalton Trumbo (story) (front Ian McLellan Hunter)
Ian McLellan Hunter (screenplay) ...
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Roman Holiday on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
2 September 1953 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
Audrey Hepburn at her Oscar-winning best in an immortal comedy-romance! more
Plot:
A bored and sheltered princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American newsman in Rome. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Won 3 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 11 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(25 articles)
Clip joint: the best film clips featuring bridges
 (From The Guardian - Film News. 3 December 2009, 4:31 AM, PST)

Can Keira Break the Hepburn Curse?
 (From t5m.com. 26 October 2009, 9:08 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Lyrical relic of a vanished civilization more (156 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Gregory Peck ... Joe Bradley

Audrey Hepburn ... Princess Ann
Eddie Albert ... Irving Radovich
Hartley Power ... Mr. Hennessy
Harcourt Williams ... Ambassador
Margaret Rawlings ... Countess Vereberg
Tullio Carminati ... Gen. Provno
Paolo Carlini ... Mario Delani
Claudio Ermelli ... Giovanni
Paola Borboni ... Charwoman
Alfredo Rizzo ... Cab Driver
Laura Solari ... Secretary
Gorella Gori ... Shoe Seller
Heinz Hindrich ... Dr. Bonnachoven
John Horne ... Master of Ceremonies
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Additional Details

Runtime:
118 min | Portugal:117 min (cut version)
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Paramount originally wanted to shoot this movie in Hollywood. William Wyler refused, insisting it must be shot on location. They finally agreed, but with a much lower budget. This meant the movie would now be in Black-n-White, not the expected Technicolor, and he would need to cast an unknown actress as the Princess - Audrey Hepburn. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Anne climbs into the back of the truck to escape the palace, there is no canopy. When she later climbs out when the truck is stopped in traffic, it has a canopy. more
Quotes:
[in a taxi in Rome; Princess Ann is drugged]
Joe Bradley: Where do you live?
Princess Ann: [mumbles drunkenly] ... Colosseum...
Joe Bradley: [to taxi driver] She lives in the Colosseum.
Cab Driver: Is wrong address!
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Her Majesty (2001) more

FAQ

Is this movie based on a book?
Where is the "wall of wishes"?
What is a gelati?
more
72 out of 91 people found the following comment useful.
Lyrical relic of a vanished civilization, 9 February 1999
Author: jayson-4 from United States

This charming comedy is justly famous as the film that made the whole world fall in love with Audrey Hepburn and half the world want to run out and buy a Vespa scooter. Hepburn was always beguiling, but in some of her later roles she tended to overplay the winsomeness. Here every note she hits is just about perfect.

And speaking of notes, pay special attention to the score by the great Georges Auric. If the film had been produced in the manner of modern romantic comedies, the sound track would have been larded with pop hits by Perry Como, Dinah Shore, and Frankie Laine, which would have done an awful lot to destroy the magic. Instead Auric's complex, vibrant, evocative music complements the story's inherent lyricism without upstaging it. In an era of bombastic film scoring, this seems a miracle.

Someone once said that Audrey Hepburn's was the beauty of possibility and transformation -- she was always in motion, always becoming something else. "Roman Holiday" is very much of a piece with that notion. On the surface, the film is about a princess who disguises herself as a "commoner". But in truth she's actually pretending to be a princess, at least at first. She finally becomes authentic -- is transformed and prepared to deal with her destiny -- only through the ennobling power of love and sacrifice. That's one heck of a mythic subtext and does a lot to explain "Roman Holiday's" enduring power.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Roman Holiday (1953)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Does this remind you of... arsenal0119
Does anyone else think this movie is just average? cil_b
Movie in Italian? sarasultz
Are there other movies with this type of endings? HollyEm
Is there a headscarf (turban) of Hepburn? buraktheauthor
Brilliant, yet uncomfortable to watch - spoilers mmochal23
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