Roman Holiday (1953)
(William Wyler, US 1953, 118 min., 35mm)
Dalton Trumbo won an Academy Award, in absentia, for penning this timeless tale of a young princess who, tired of her publicity tour and duty to the crown, decides to play hooky for a day. The film shot Audrey Hepburn to stardom and gave Gregory Peck his only successful light role. Hepburn plays Princess Ann of an unnamed country who arrives in Rome to great fanfare. Under the influence of a sleeping aid, she slips out of the palace to venture into the Rome night and the unwitting arms of American newshound Joe Bradley (Peck). When Joe realizes his luck, he pretends to remain unaware in order to chaperone her to various photogenic spots in the city and land an exclusive story, never realizing that he was fated to fall in love with her. Trumbo wrote the script in 1949 (before getting sent to prison for being found in contempt of Congress) and sold it to Liberty Pictures for Frank Capra. By the time the film was released in 1953, it was directed by William Wyler for Paramount. In total, the film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and earned Hepburn her only statuette.