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That story isn't just true: it's truly Audrey. For me, it sums up this adorable, exquisite, luminous little pixie, who could be equal parts regal and rascally. Whenever I watch an Audrey Hepburn movie, half of me wants to protect her, so nothing bad will ever befall her (I would have gladly gone into the Forbidden Zone of a ladies room to retrieve her Oscar). The other half wants to marry her and keep her all for myself. Although it's been written that Roman Holiday was Hepburn's film debut, it certainly was not.

The Belgian-born beauty appeared in at least six films (some as an uncredited extra) before making her American debut in Roman Holiday. Director William Wyler (Ben-Hur) had to fight to give Hepburn the role. Co-star Gregory Peck (who, legend has it, initially turned down the role because the movie was more about the princess then about his character) needed to be persuaded to work with such a novice. In the end, Peck was so enamored that he fought for Hepburn to share his above-the-title credit.

For all its virtue, no one can claim that Roman Holiday has the most original of storylines. Although similar to the Clark Gable/Claudette Colbert classic, It Happened One Night, Roman Holiday is more Cinderella and less screwball. As we meet Princess Ann (princess of what country we are never told), she is enduring yet another in an endless series of royal responsibilities while on a European goodwill tour. Interviews, photo ops, press conferences, meet-and-greets, food inspection tours, state dinners, Orphanage openings...it's all too much for a blossoming young woman whose every word and every step must confirm to the rigid rules of royal behavior. So, after eyeing a particular juicy-looking shindig across the street, Ann escapes her castle confines for her very first night on the town.

Many hours later, very tired and possibly drunk, Ann is lying down in the middle of some anonymous Rome street. Walking by is American journalist Joe Bradley. Seeing a young woman in distress, Joe offers to escort her back to her home. When Ann is too conked to even blurt out where she lives, Joe takes her to his apartment to sleep it off. Meanwhile, the royal family is in a tizzy wondering where the princess has gone. The next day, when the newspapers report that Ann had to cancel the day's appointments due to '"illness'", Joe realizes he's harboring real life royalty. Convincing his newspaper boss that he can get an '"exclusive'" interview with the missing princess, Joe takes her out on the town, trying to gain her confidence.
The rest of the movie charts Ann and Joe's day in Rome: she is unwilling to admit she's a VIP (Very Important Princess), he is unwilling to admit he's only interested in her for a story. Of course, as Ann enjoys her first full day out of captivity, she and Joe fall in love.

William Wyler directs Roman Holiday in a calm, classy, detached style that, thankfully, keeps the film from becoming silly. Amazingly, Wyler directed sixteen actors to Academy Awards. No director has ever steered so many performers to Oscar glory. Also indispensable is Eddie Albert as Irving, the photographer helping Joe cash in on his exclusive. The genuinely clever and engaging script was written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, who was posthumously awarded a Best Screenplay Oscar, forty years after the release of the film. Nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Roman Holiday is funny and bittersweet. And best of all, it introduced the world to Audrey Hepburn, a woman whose style evidenced a simplicity and class that today's crass, coarse society cannot possibly replicate.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Paramount has gone to town on Roman Holiday (actually, given Paramount's spotty DVD reputation, let's say they've gone to village). The film has been completely restored, cleaning up a considerable amount of dirt and grain from the original negative. The results are really terrific. Presented in full frame 4:3, it passes all the tests of a black and white transfer. Blacks are solid. Scenes near the water present the ocean as inky black. Contrast is good, probably as good as it will ever get. Print quality is generally terrific. The picture really has been cleaned up nicely and although there is a nick here and there, it's negligible. There is newsreel footage at the beginning of the movie: that footage is dirty, but it is consistent with watching old newsreel material. Detail is sharp and the picture is free of artifacting. I did notice a tiny amount of edge enhancement, but in no way does it distract. A very nice job by Paramount.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby digital mono mix does the job, although it's not as surprisingly good as the video. Fidelity is okay; the highs get a workout while the lows are barely tested. Some of the highs, like the honking of horns and some of the violins in the score are a bit thin. Dialogue is easy to understand. There is really no sense of envelopment and the general soundscape is of the vintage get-the-job-done variety. What can I say? It sounds fine.

The disc also includes a French mono dub track, English and French subtitles and English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Paramount is finally starting to realize (kicking and screaming, I'm sure) that film lovers appreciate special edition DVDs that are actually special. Here, they've created a disc that is comparable in quality to their recent release of Sunset Boulevard: a solid effort by a company that doesn't yet know how to make a great DVD.

First is an interesting 25-minute mini-doc called Remembering Roman Holiday. The piece starts at the film's beginnings, going through casting and then theatrical release. I was very surprised to learn that Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life) was supposed to direct Roman Holiday, until he learned it was written by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo. The doc even contains brief footage of Trumbo testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee. In fact, there is a lot of amazing vintage footage here, including Hepburn's Oscar acceptance speech and footage of Hepburn's screen and costume tests. It also includes new, full-frame interviews with Wyler's daughter, as well as Eddie Albert and other, lesser-known people familiar with the production and with Wyler. For a brief documentary, this is really a nice effort, and as a bonus, there's some priceless old footage.

Paramount took great pains to bring this 50-year old film back to its original luster. At least, that's the point of a seven-minute stroke job called Restoring Roman Holiday. Check it out and you'll understand the power of digital restoration technology. The piece includes interviews with various Paramount muckety-mucks, who tell us what was involved in making the DVD look more like the original theatrical print. The original film had degraded to the point where each frame contained about 400-500 piece of dirt, all of which had to be removed. Grain was also a major obstacle. Moderately interesting, it comes across as if Paramount is trying to prove it really does care about DVD and about its library.

Next is Edith Head-The Paramount Years, a 14-minute tribute to the eight-time Oscar winning costumer designer. If you think you've seen this supplement before, you're probably right. It also appears on the DVD for Sunset Boulevard. The piece charts Head's career, starting with her work for silent film legend Clara Bow and including her work in White Christmas, A Place in the Sun, To Catch a Thief, and of course, Roman Holiday. Clean, full frame interviews are conducted with actress Rosemary Clooney, biographer David Chierichetti and fellow costume god Bob Mackie. It's a vaguely interesting look at a very talented woman.

Next are three trailers, which are pretty terrific. The first is a 90 second teaser, which highlights emerging star Hepburn. The trailer plugs her by showing some behind-the-scenes costume tests. According to the announcer, '"all the boys behind the camera fell for her like a ton of bricks.'" I bet they did. Video is full frame and looks surprisingly good. Audio is a little thin with a bit of crackling. The second trailer is a standard two-minute job. Promising a '"gay and giddy holiday'", it's cute, but not as awesome as the teaser. Again, video is full frame black and white. Lastly, we have the re- release trailer. Promising a "breakfast, lunch and dinner of love", Roman Holiday was reissued in the sixties, after Breakfast at Tiffany's. This trailer looks the best of the three: it's still full-frame black and white, but a bit cleaner with fuller sound.

Finally, there are small, but worthwhile black and white Photo Galleries. Broken up into four categories, (Production, The Movie, Publicity and The Premiere), they number about forty, of which 20 are worth looking at. Behind-the-scenes shots of the production are interesting, while the shots of the film's premiere were merely okay. Some of the production photos could have used captions. In all, not comprehensive, but what the heck? It's vintage and it's cool.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts