Complete credited cast: | |||
Humphrey Bogart | ... | Linus Larrabee | |
Audrey Hepburn | ... | Sabrina Fairchild | |
William Holden | ... | David Larrabee | |
Walter Hampden | ... | Oliver Larrabee | |
John Williams | ... | Thomas Fairchild | |
Martha Hyer | ... | Elizabeth Tyson | |
Joan Vohs | ... | Gretchen Van Horn | |
Marcel Dalio | ... | Baron St. Fontanel | |
Marcel Hillaire | ... | The Professor | |
Nella Walker | ... | Maude Larrabee | |
Francis X. Bushman | ... | Mr. Tyson | |
Ellen Corby | ... | Miss McCardle |
Linus and David Larrabee are the two sons of a very wealthy family. Linus is all work -- busily running the family corporate empire with no time for a wife and family. David is all play -- technically employed in the family business but never showing up for work, spending all his time entertaining, and having been married and divorced three times. Sabrina Fairchild is the young, shy, and awkward daughter of the household chauffeur, who has been infatuated with David all her life, but whom David hardly notices till she goes away to Paris for two years and returns an elegant, sophisticated, beautiful woman. Suddenly, she finds she's captured David's attention, but just as she does so, she finds herself also falling in love with Linus, and she finds that Linus is also falling in love with her. Written by Brian C. Madsen <bcmmovies@earthlink.net>
'Sabrina' looks at first glance to be one of those rags to riches tales, as Audrey Hepburn's chauffeur's daughter takes herself to Paris and comes back a sophisticated young lady. However, she isn't the one who undergoes the most striking transformation in this charming romantic comedy.
William Holden plays the playboy son of the house (and he could probably have done this kind of role in his sleep) while Humphrey Bogart of all people plays his crusty business-focused older brother. Bogart is surprisingly good in this in a rare foray into comedy. Hepburn of course is just luminous. John Williams, as Hepburn's deadpan snobby chauffeur father is good fun, as is Ellen Corby (grandma from 'The Waltons') as Bogart's secretary. And how nice to see 1910s movie idol Francis X Bushman in one of his later character roles (as the father of Holden's intended).
This Billy Wilder movie compares well with his more cited titles such as 'The Seven-Year Itch', 'Some Like It Hot', 'Sunset Blvd.', and 'The Lost Weekend'. It is also much better than the remake with Harrison Ford which limped out in recent years.