Roman Holiday 4K Review (Paramount)

Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy film directed and produced by William Wyler (Funny Girl, Ben-Hur, The Big Country, and The Desperate Hours). It was written by Dalton Trumbo (Papillon, The Horsemen, Spartacus, and Johnny Got His Gun), Ian McLellan Hunter (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Eye Witness, and The Adventures of Robin Hood), & John Dighton (The Devil’s Disciple, Champagne Charlie, & The Next of Kin). It was produced by Robert Wyler (Detective Story, The Heiress, and Anybody Here Seen Kelly?). It was nominated for 10 Oscars and it won 3 during the Academy Awards. The budget was $1.5 million and it ended up grossing $12 million worldwide at the box office!!!!Ann (played by: Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, My Fair Lady, Charade, and Sabrina), a crown princess from an unnamed European nation is on a state visit to Rome. She becomes frustrated with her tightly scheduled life and secretly leaves her country’s embassy. The delayed effect of a sedative makes her fall asleep on a bench, where Joe Bradley (played by: Gregory Peck from The Omen, Cape Fear, To Kill a Mockingbird, and How the West Was Won), an expatriate reporter for the “American News Service” finds her without recognizing who she is. Thinking that she is intoxicated, Joe lets her spend the night in his apartment. The next morning, Joe gives his editor, Mr. Hennessy (played by: Hartley Power from Island in the Sun, Dead of Night, and Living Dangerously) false details of his attendance at the princess’ press conference. When Hennessy informs him that the event had been cancelled and shows him a news item about the princess’ “sudden illness”. He realizes who is asleep in his apartment. Seeing an opportunity, Joe privately calls his photographer friend Irving Radovich (played by: Eddie Albert from Spider-Man: The Animated Series, The Twilight Zone, and Green Acres) to ask him to secretly take pictures. Hennessy offers to pay $5000 for the article and exclusive interview with the princess. He bets Joe $500 that he won’t be able to get it. She leaves his place to enjoy her newfound freedom. Joe starts to follow her and “accidentally” meets Ann on the Spanish Steps. This time, he convinces her to spend the day with him. That night, at a dance on a boat that her barber had invited her to, government agents called in by the embassy spot Ann and try to forcibly take her away. Joe, Irving, and the barber rush in to save her from the abductors. Joe is falls into the river & Ann jumps in to save him. They swim across & kiss as they sit shivering on the riverbank. Both of them are still hiding their true identities from each other. What will happen next for the two strangers????Roman Holiday is one of the best romantic comedies and films from the 50’s of all time. You fall in love with Ann just like Joe is in the movie. Audrey Hepburn gives a performance of a lifetime in Roman Holiday and she deserved winning the Oscar for this performance. Audrey Hepburn was so classy and beautiful, a true leading lady when it came to Hollywood. I love the innocence of her character. She discovers so much about herself in a such short amount of time. She had a few small roles before this but nothing major. This is one of the greatest debuts ever when it comes to movies. Gregory Peck honestly never gave a bad performance in his entire career and he was a great counterpart to Hepburn in this. The con man that falls for his work. Their chemistry is one of the greatest love connections in cinema history. The supporting cast was really good but the two leads just brought everything to a whole new level. You couldn’t keep your eyes off them and it just building up as time went on. I’ve always heard about this one but I didn’t check it out until I got the original Paramount Presents release. I was sleeping on it and I hope others will give it more attention after this home video resurrection. They try so hard in the sub-genre but this one was effortless and felt so natural with everything. After all these years, it still holds up. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Paramount Pictures! This 2160p (1.37:1) transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is from a brand new 4K restoration. I’ve always said it but I think Black and White feature look amazing in HD. I did a little research and compared this new version to the past home video releases, this one blows them all away! This is the best it’s ever looked anywhere. It’s loaded with a variety of audio options which includes English: Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Mono, German: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, and Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on the release. This one sounds great especially for being so old but don’t expect it to rock your speakers or anything like that because it’s not that type of film. All of the dialogue is crystal clear & the music has a nice boost to it. It had a huge variety of subtitles that includes English, English SDH, French, German, German SDH, Japanese, Czech, and Korean. Very impressed, this is a top notch technical home video release from Paramount!!!!Let’s discuss the special features from Paramount Pictures! Just a warning, a few extras from the previous release are not on here so you might want to hold on to it but this 4K release is still loaded with all kinds of bonus material. All of the extras are located on the blu ray disc. “Filmmaker Focus: Leonard Maltin on Roman Holiday” is almost 7 minutes and it’s a great one. The famous critic and know historian drops all kinds of knowledge about Roman Holiday. He covers the director and the two leads. He tells a few stories and goes over some facts about the production. “Behind The Gates: Costumes” is a little over 5 minutes. This shows some of Paramount’s most famous clothes, outfits, and props from their long history in movies. “Rome With A Princess” is almost 9 minutes. It goes over various locations for the classic film. It has clips and lots of information about the subject here. “Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years” is almost 30 minutes. This is a mini documentary about the legendary actress and her films with Paramount Pictures. They go over her beginnings and early life before acting. They chat about her amazing debut in Roman Holiday and how she was the Oscar for it.They talk about Sabrina and some of her other projects at the studio. They go over the legacy of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Lots of information about that production here. They discuss her look, fashion, broadway, and her relationships. This is a great inside look into Hepburn’s career at the studio plus her personal life during it. “Dalton Trumbo: From A-List to Blacklist” is almost 12 minutes. It has interviews with friends, collaborators, and people who knew the infamous screen writer. They chat about the man, writer, and the person who didn’t back down in Hollywood. They go over his work and the trouble that he got into during the black list. “Paramount In The ’50s” is a little over 9 minutes. This feature focuses on Paramount Pictures greatest films and moments from the 50’s including this one. “Remembering Audrey” is a little over 12 minutes. It has interviews with her family. They go over her career a little bit but they mainly talk about her as a person. They bring up how humble she was. She never thought high of herself. She didn’t watch her own movies. They chat about how normal she was and she always thought she could do better even after all the praise she got. 3 different “Trailers” for Roman’s Holiday. 4 different “Image Galleries” which includes Production, The Movie, Publicity, and The Premiere. This release comes with a slipcover, a blu ray copy, and a digital code. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!