Roman Holiday (1953) on Netflix
Princess Ann, touring European capitals, slips out of her Rome embassy for one free night. An American reporter, Joe Bradley, finds her asleep and takes her home, not knowing who she is.
- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb8.0/10158,912 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
For her unnamed nation, Crown Princess Ann is making a goodwill tour of European capitals, and Rome is the latest stop. After a demanding day in Rome, a doctor gives her an injection and tells her to spend a while doing as she pleases. She leaves the embassy in secret to see the city, and the drug puts her to sleep on a low wall. Joe Bradley, an American reporter, comes across her, supposes she is drunk, and brings her to his apartment to rest. He oversleeps the next morning and misses her press conference, then tells his editor, Hennessy, that he was there. Hennessy then points to a news item reporting that the conference was canceled because the princess is ill, and Joe recognizes the woman in the newspaper photograph.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- Andrea Esterhazyas Embassy Aide (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Roman Holiday (1953)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Academy Award for Best Story went initially to Ian McLellan Hunter, who had taken the story credit on behalf of the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. The Academy later credited the win to Trumbo, and in 1993 his widow received her late husband's Oscar.
- Wyler wanted an "anti-Italian" actress, different from the curvy Italian stars of that era, and in words attributed to him his new star had "no arse, no tits, no tight-fitting clothes, no high heels. In short a Martian. She will be a sensation."
- Peck's contract gave him solo star billing, with newcomer Hepburn listed much less prominently in the credits, but halfway through the filming Peck suggested to Wyler that he elevate her to equal billing, an almost unheard-of gesture in Hollywood.
- The Italian Ministry of Tourism originally refused permission for the movie to be filmed in Rome, on the grounds that it would "degrade Italians". Once the matter was resolved, filming took place entirely in Rome and in the studios of Cinecittà .
- Wyler first offered the male role to Hollywood favorite Cary Grant, who declined believing he was too old to play Hepburn's character's love interest, something he would do ten years later in Charade.
- In the UK the film benefited from the romance then going on between Princess Margaret and commoner Peter Townsend, and from a fad for Italian culture. "No film studio could have bought such publicity", Alexander Walker wrote.
- Trumbo was not the only blacklisted figure on the picture: his name was only reinstated on the 2003 DVD release, with full credit restored on December 19, 2011, and blacklisted director Bernard Vorhaus worked on the film as an assistant director under a pseudonym.
- The film was very popular outside the United States, and as late as 1990 it was cited as the favorite foreign film of all time for Japanese audiences.
