Taking a Holiday

Just watched the old classic, Roman Holiday, a few days ago.

I'd been curious about that one for a while, and finally bought it a couple of month or two ago, and watched it a week or so back. It was a very funny movie, well put together. Audrey Hepburn was amazing. Gregory Peck was quite good as well, although I do wish Cary Grant hadn't turned it down. Two screen presences like Hepburn and Grant together would have been quite the match.

Of course, it could have been the match that burned down the whole movie, who knows? But boy, it would have been interesting.

Getting back to the movie, though, it was neat watching them move through Rome (sometimes ironically, sometimes sentimentally). It's such a beautiful city, and I love that one of my favorite spots in the city (Castel Sant'Angelo) was featured fairly prominently.

But it really brought back my two trips to Italy, as I'd seen most of the spots they stopped (including when they stopped at a cafe next to The Pantheon, though they never showed the whole building). The only major landmark I didn't recognize, I think, was the wishing wall; I hadn't even heard of that one. I'll have to look for it if I make it back over there.

I was a little disappointed that the only appearance of the Vatican was an outside shot of St Peter's Square, although I suppose that isn't someplace you'd go when searching for a bit of excitement. But the art collection inside is certainly hard to match.

In any event, I enjoyed the movie a great deal. The whole thing felt a little contrived, but not so much as to ruin the movie. The setup with her at the embassy gathering the night before was very well done, with her losing her shoe, and the Ambassador smoothly helping her recover it was fantastic.

And the ending, with her walking into her duties with full knowledge of what she was doing was very well done. She had obviously grown up, and it was impressive and sad to see.

The ending definitely wasn't what I was expecting, but they really hadn't built any hints of anything more than that. I just expected something more of the typical Hollywood ending, and that definitely wasn't it.

I was awfully surprised also, when they said in one of the bonus features, that the reason for filming in black and white was to keep Rome itself from overpowering the actors. It did make sense, though; those were some awfully powerful backgrounds as it was. They might well have been overwhelming in color. Nevertheless, it seems a shame.

Rome isn't my favorite city, but it's close, and one of the most beautiful.