Having escaped the palace walls, a bored princess on a State visit looking to escape her regimented life bumps into an American reporter.
A young Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) tired of the monotony of her European good-will tour slips out of her confinement. Meeting Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) she spends the next 24 hours or so incognito enjoying the normal things the city of Rome can offer. Only Bradley recognises her as the princess currently incapacitated due to illness – or at least that’s the official version. In it for the scoop of a lifetime (and $5,000), he brings on board photographer Irving Radnovich (Eddie Albert) to clandestinely document the day. Only Bradley fails to factor in the feelings the two evolve for each other.
Pure unadulterated entertainment from director William Wyler that has admittedly dated and occasionally slips into slapstick silliness. But there’s no questioning the commitment of the two leads with 23 year-old Hepburn picking up the Oscar for best actress.
Nominated for 10 Oscars in 1954 including best film, director, supporting actor, editing – won 3 for best actress, original screenplay & costume
Rating: 66%
Director: William Wyler (The Best Years of Our Lives, Funny Girl)
Writer: Dalton Trumbo (Kitty Foyle, Exodus), Ian McLellan Hunter (The Outside Man, Captain Sinbad), John Dighton (The Man in the White Suit, Kind Hearts and Coronets)
Main cast: Gregory Peck (The Yearling, To Kill a Mockingbird), Audrey Hepburn (My Fair Lady, Charade), Eddie Albert (Oklahoma!, The Heartbreak Kid!)
*Blacklisted as one of the Hollywood 10, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was originally excluded from the credits with his Oscar posthumously presented to Trumbo’s widow in 1993.
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