Rent Roman Holiday (1953)

Comedy Romance (spoiler). - Roman Holiday review by Steve

 This is one of those few films which is more loved than merely liked or appreciated. Much of that affection is courtesy of Audrey Hepburn's charming, luminous performance in her Hollywood debut. She stars as a fashionable princess constantly pursued by the media and driven crazy by the confines of public life.

 For 24 hours she goes missing in Rome and has an adventure with a reporter (Gregory Peck), and they flirt. He intends selling his story. Eddie Albert is the paparazzo who secretly takes the pictures. Of course, by the end, the newshound is in love with her as much as the audience, and he spikes the scoop.

Blacklisted Dalton Trumbo co-wrote the chic script without credit (with John Dighton). While it deals in innuendo, this is playful and witty. It's the same story as It Happened One Night, but the location work in a touristic Rome adds so much magic to the gorgeous romance. It's a masquerade, with neither of the participants owning their true identity until the finish.

It grows sentimental in the last third, but by then we are utterly under its spell. This frosting of emotion actually makes the film better. It is a stylish fairytale which sells us a ravishing impression of Roman life; with its fashion, and the ancient streets full of vespas. Of la dolce vita staged against the backdrop of the city's staggering history.

This is the old blu ray - Roman Holiday review by KH

I was happy to get this and started playing and the picture was quite soft, I found out this is not the re-mastered version so its no better than the dvd, sent it back without watching..

Still enjoyable - Roman Holiday review by Maureen

This is an old film, which we much enjoyed when it was first shown. Watching it now we wondered whether it was still going to be enjoyable. At first we doubted it, as the first half is so slow, but the second part more than made up for that and we were very pleased that we had added it to our list.

George Roby.