User Reviews

Audrey Hepburn followed up her Oscar Winning role as a sweet princess in "Roman Holiday" with the perfect Cinderella story, one with the wittiest script, and filled with romance in spite of the fact that her leading men seem far too old for her. She is the daughter of the chauffeur (John Williams, actor; NOT composer) to the wealthy Larrabee family, narrating the film in its unique prologue as she describes the Larrabee estate. From there, the audience meets the Larrabee family which includes the aging old codger of a patriarch (Walter Hampden) and a society matron (Nella Walker) not in the Billie Burke dizzy mode, and their sons: Stuffy Humphrey Bogart and practically worthless playboy William Holden. As she is heading to Paris to attend an esteemed cooking school, she fears that she'll loose Holden (who barely notices her) to one of his silly debutante girlfriends, and after Bogart rescues her from a case of carbon monoxide poisoning, Hepburn faces her future and heads off where she learns how to cook and comes back a glamorous beauty. Holden notices her now, and Bogart steps in to prevent Holden from ruining a business deal by breaking off with his newest fiancee by going after Hepburn himself.

Having seen this many years ago and perhaps not in 20 years, I had many memories of the souffle scene, the plastic table testing scene, and of course the opening narration where Hepburn describes the purpose of each of the Larrabee's and the unseen staff. Among that staff is maid Nancy Kulp a decade before "The Beverly Hillbillies" (Miss Jane on Long Island rather than in Bel Aire!) and Ellen Corby close to two decades before "The Waltons". Each of the cast gets a chance to gain a laugh or two, yet the romantic plot-line is very well played out with intelligent dialog and situations that helps this rise above your typical romantic comedy. Bogart gets the chance to play a character of his own background and even makes a comment regarding Paris that will instantly bring back memories of his biggest hit, "Casablanca". Holden's big moment is reacting to having sat on two champagne glasses, and papas Williams and Hampden each shine in their individual moments as well, particularly Hampden when he makes fun of one of Holden's former romantic distractions by imitating her participation in a TV commercial.

With director Billy Wilder among the writers, this ends up being one of his best works, quite different than "Double Indemnity" and "Sunset Boulevard" and not as farcical as "Some Like It Hot". The first half is appropriately humorous and charming with the second half more bitter sweet and profound. The art direction, photography, editing, use of a new music score combined with some popular standards ("Isn't It Romantic?", "Yes We Have No Bananas") aiding the film greatly. This film has sustained the test of time, and produced a remake that while unnecessary I didn't mind all that much. (Featured actress Nancy Marchand stands out as the family matriarch in that version....) As far as "Cinderella" stories go, this is one of the most unique, and one that its audiences will gratefully never forget.

I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, as I can't see it stated anywhere else; I just have to write it down and see if anybody at all agrees with me. It's very unwise for a Hollywood production to have the stars they've cast shoulder all of the burden of trying to make the script seem convincing.

I don't think the screenplay did a very good job at all of explaining just why these two men were so attracted to Sabrina (save for the fact that she happens to be played by one Audrey Hepburn... ) The character of the chauffeur's daughter behaves in the manner of an entitled brat - just because she can't have the man she wants, she writes a bitter little suicide note until she's shuffled off to Paris.

Upon her return, only her appearance has changed; her character still remains somewhat aloof, but she's discovered how to utilise her looks to twist men around her little finger. This has the effect of making the two vying suitors we're shown seem shallow. This is a perception that is only confirmed when one of them attempts to woo her using the same seduction techniques he's already tried out on dozens of other girls (yet Sabrina seems amused by this, rather than dissuaded!) Meanwhile, the older brother takes advantage by trying to kiss her under the pretence that he's acting in his missing sibling's stead (as if that type of advance would really go over smoothly... ?!)

Throughout the entirety of the film it felt like we were meant to harbour affection for these characters just by virtue of who was playing them; Sabrina/Audrey because of her elfin beauty and gauche naiveté, Linus/Bogart because the payoff is a reversal of what happens in Casablanca and he gets to be with the girl for once. I didn't buy their motivations as anything recognisably human, and therefore didn't derive much satisfaction from the resolution of the story...

I think that established persona's and star wattage should only be relied upon to achieve so much. The underlying construction of what they were given to work with just didn't seem solid enough to me. The one benefit to casting icons is that there are very few 'boring' scenes, there are just quite a few scenes that don't appear to make much narrative sense.

***SPOILER ALERT*** This movie is nothing special. I didn't watch it as a great classic but just as I would any other movie. I liked the vibe of the movie the romantic tensions, fun etc. But there was too much lacking and too much not making sense. She was in love with Holden her entire life, and then Humphrey was able to on a whim make her forget Holden and fall in love with him. And, there was no great chemistry between them as it happened. He really was too old for the role and not only too old but just not good for it. It just didn't make much sense to me. There should be some romantic deep moments or something to justify such a story. And the ending also, wasn't believable. Great classic actors miscast. Miscast big time! They didn't jell together. Still Aubrey was good. Actually it was Humphrey, who was the weak link in this movie in my opinion. Still it was slightly enjoyable to watch.

Real rating: 6.2

MY RATING SYSTEM:

9.4 - 10 = rating 10 ***** 8.6 - 9.3 = rating 9 ***** 7.8 - 8.5 = rating 8 ***** 7.1 - 7.7 = rating 7

6.1 - 7.0 = 6 5.1 - 6.0 = 5 4.1 - 5.0 = 4 3.1 - 4.0 = 3 2.1 - 3.0 = 2 1.0 - 2.0 = 1

From Oscar nominated director Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment), this was rated very highly by the critics and had good leading stars, so I decided I should see it. Basically the Larabee family are very rich, and the two sons do their own things, Linus (Humphrey Bogart) runs the family corporate empire and has no time for a personal life, and David (William Holden) is employed by the family but never shows up spending time having fun and being married and divorced three times. Young and awkward chauffeur's daughter Sabrina Fairchild (Oscar and BAFTA nominated Audrey Hepburn) has had a crush on David since childhood, but he has never really noticed her, until he returns home after two years from Paris. She is more elegant, sophisticated and beautiful and she seems to have finally caught the playboy's attention, not recognising her, she is happy to finally be gaining his interest, but Linus is worried. David is already engaged to be married to another woman, if the wedding doesn't go ahead a big corporate deal will go bust, so workaholic Linus starts a friendship with Sabrina to draw her away. In the process however it seems that she may be falling in love with her, and he returns the same feelings, so much so that when he tells her to go back to Paris, he dashes to leave with her on the boat. Also starring Walter Hampden as Oliver Larrabee, John Williams as Thomas Fairchild, Martha Hyer as Elizabeth Tyson, Joan Vohs as Gretchen Van Horn, Marcel Dalio as Baron St. Fontanel, Marcel Hillaire as The Professor, Nella Walker as Maude Larrabee, Francis X. Bushman as Mr. Tyson and Ellen Corby as Miss McCardle. Hepburn is radiant and elegant as the shy young woman, Bogart is cool and charming as the "tough guy", and Holden does alright as his brother, the direction by Wilder is good, the story when it made sense was not bad with some soppy and funny stuff, I can't quite agree with five stars out of five, but it is I suppose a worthwhile romantic comedy. It won the Oscar for Best Costume Design, and it was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Cinematography and Best Writing, Screenplay, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. Humphrey Bogart was number 36, and Audrey Hepburn number 13 on The Greatest Movie Stars, Hepburn was number 31 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, Bogart was number 1 on 100 Years, 100 Stars - Men, and he was number 27 on The World's Greatest Actor. Very good!

It seems to be not just stating but over stating the obvious to say yet again that Billy Wilder was a writing-directing genius, that Audrey Hepburn was not only drop-dead gorgeous but also a gifted actress, that Bogie and Bill Holden were consummate professionals who were virtually strangers to bad performances but I'm being constantly reminded that there are people reading these Boards whose parents may not have been born in the era when Sabrina was made and I guess you could argue that those of us a tad longer in the tooth have some kind of moral obligation to discuss artistes whose work is now becoming available on DVD in an effort to help them distinguish the wheat from the chaff. Virtually all the books about Wilder - and possibly Hepburn and Bogie as well - mention the tension on the set between lone wolf Bogie and cosy threesome Wilder, Holden and Hepburn and the amazing thing is that this doesn't show on screen. Wilder makes a big thing out of the fact that the 'Baron' - an outstanding cameo by Marcel Dalio - is making souffles at Hepburns Cooking School in Paris as if to reinforce what he (Wilder) himself is doing from beginning to end in this delightful confection. Everyone was on top of their game and boy, does it show. This is one of those films that no one should even DREAM of remaking because that's like trying to reconstitute as an adult a snowflake that enchanted you as a child. Untouchable, unmissable. As another poster said, this is why we go to the movies, for moments like this. Magic.

Paramount Pictures bought the rights for the Broadway play 'Sabrina Fair' expressly for Audrey Hepburn, coming off of the phenomenal success of her very first film and Oscar win for Best Actress the prior year in "Roman Holiday". With a two million dollar budget and seven weeks of shooting in October/November of 1953, "Sabrina" was filming even before there was a finished script. Director Billy Wilder even asked Hepburn to fake an illness on the day they were shooting a scene still being rewritten!

The result however remains one of the all time great romantic comedies, casting Hepburn against a pair of mismatched brothers, David (William Holden) and Linus (Humphrey Bogart) Larrabee. Linus in fact is such a corporate stiff that he's seen dictating a letter to his brother about reporting to work on time, while David seems singularly obsessed with fast sports cars and hit and run marriages. I found it amusingly interesting that the Larrabees were getting into plastics well before Dustin Hoffman could get that advice in "The Graduate".

Two years at cooking school in Paris transforms the waif like Sabrina into a fashionable young woman who's learned how to live. Responding to her father's constant lament that she should stop reaching for the moon, Sabrina counters that now ... "the moon's reaching for me".

As a stand in for his brother, Bogey proclaims himself Joe College with a touch of arthritis as he begins to court Sabrina. But he does manage to pull off one of the smoothest moves of his movie career when he comments 'it's all in the family' just before kissing her for the first time.

One can just imagine how audiences of the 1950's might have been taken with the glamor and party life depicted in the film, unattainable as it was for the majority. Yet in the midst of it all, Audrey Hepburn exhibited a natural and quiet sophistication that endeared her to an entire decade of movie goers. Her self assurance in the role of Sabrina earned her a second Best Actress nomination in as many films.

Stay attentive, and you'll catch Bogart's character request his secretary for a pair of tickets to 'The Seven Year Itch". Ever the self promoters, Paramount was already getting audiences ready for their next big hit for the following year, also to be directed by Billy Wilder.

As a fan of Billy Wilder, old movies and this trio of stars, I was looking forward to this. But I feel it's a bit of a letdown.

Audrey Hepburn, as usual, is luminous (and she is, as usual, paired off with a suitor far too old for her). But part of the problem is what the story does with her character. She pines away for Holden, and then goes away to cooking school in Paris. Why does she go? Did she want to go? Unknown. While away, she writes her father a letter saying she is over Holden. But then, when she returns, she (in a rather absurd coincidence) runs into him at the train station. The two connect. So she wasn't over him after all? Or was she over him, but then fell back in love when she saw him? What was her plan if she hadn't coincidentally run into him? Who knows? Later, Bogart and Holden sort out which of them gets to "have" her, which is rather sexist and also robs her of her agency. (Surely a charming girl like that must have other options besides a buffoon and an old man.)

Holden hasn't been given much of a character to play. He's all charm and nothing else. The script never rounds him out with grace notes that might have helped us to understand why he lives such a vacuous life. As an actor, Holden has consistently shown an ability to locate the darkness buried inside his characters, but he never seems to tap into that quality here.

(It might have been interesting if Hepburn, during the course of dating Holden finally realized what a shallow loser he is and dumped him. And then maybe Holden, in turn is forced to reexamine his life. But the story never explores that darker, more interesting possibility. Instead, Hepburn is a pawn in the men's games.)

As for Bogart, he was, of course, one of our great stars and did amazing work in dramas and crime stories. But in a light romantic comedy like this, he's very much out of his element, like Holden is. (Bogart took the role after Cary Grant turned it down.) Bogart manages to capture the cold sourness of his character just fine, but he never locates the man's gradual transformation into a guy in love. He never seems interested in Hepburn at all, which is oddly something of an accomplishment, given how beautiful Hepburn is.

The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that Bogart is too old, unattractive and emotionally cold for Hepburn to ever give him the time of day. When these two would-be lovers are reunited at the very end of the film, they hug rather than kiss. It's as if the filmmakers are acknowledging the absurdity of that these two might actually be right for each other. Or perhaps they know that there's something rather gross about the fifty-ish Bogart kissing the twenty-ish Hepburn.