Roman Holiday - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Roman Holiday



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Ranked as the #4 greatest romantic film of all times by the AFI, Roman Holiday is that quintessential classic that film fans have been begging for for over 70 years. Paramount released a fantastic “Paramount Presents” special edition 3 years ago (nearly to the day) HERE that was very favorably reviewed by yours truly, and it seems that they have continued the tradition of excellence with a 4K UHD disc taken from that same 4K restoration used for the Blu-ray.

Roman Holiday is the quintessential “perfect” film for Audrey. While the actress has gone on to other more well known roles (my favorite is probably My Fair Lady, I’m a firm believer that Breakfast at Tiffany’s is highly over rated), this was the role where she broke out in Hollywood for the first time as a leading lady (she had done a few minor bits in other films, and some work overseas, but this was her first starring title role) and she captured America’s heart as she stood across from America’s sweetheart, Gregory Peck. Penned by Walter Trumbo (along with several others), who is most notable for being an incredible screenwriter who got blacklisted along with many other named communist supporters during the McCarthy era) and directed by William Wyler (The Best Years of Our Lives, Ben-Hur, The Big Country, Mrs. Miniver) and was a smash box office success that kick started Audrey’s career into the superstar that she became.

The film is simple, sweet, and utterly charming to the core as it revolves around a princess named Ann (Audrey Hepburn) of an unnamed fictional country stopping by her embassy at Rome as she’s touring Europe. The thing is, Ann isn’t exactly happy with being a princess in many ways, as she longs to be actually FREE like the peasant class. Free to go out and enjoy her life instead of it being laid down in front of her, and free to just have some FUN every once in a while. After having a bit of a breakdown from all the stress, she’s given a sedative (by the description, probably morphine, which explains her dopey actions later) and then left alone for bed before she meets the press the next day. Leaping out of Bed, Ann decides to put on some clothes and wander about Rome in hopes of enjoying herself. Unfortunately for her the sedative starts to kick in, and she’s found dozing on a park bench by none other than American News Network reporter Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck).

Bradley takes her back to his place so that she doesn’t get tossed in jail or something worse, only to wake the next morning and see her picture in the newspaper as the very person he was supposed to be meeting for an 11:45 AM interview. Seeing an opportunity for an exclusive that could net him some big money, Joe decides to not turn the Princess back to her embassy, but play dumb and show her around Rome for a while so that he can get some candidate photos and get an exclusive personal story that NO ONE else would have. Bit by bit the two bond over the day, and as the little Roman Holiday comes to an end, Joe is left with a major decisions. Will he betray the trust of a sweet girl who innocently loves his charms, or will he put his own career aspirations on the back burner and respect her privacy.

As I said, Roman Holiday is probably the definition of a perfect picture. It has it all, including a mild romance, incredible chemistry between Audrey and Gregory, and a sense of lighthearted adventure that just puts a smile on your face. The movie has won countless awards over the years for it’s screenplay and direction, and it is one of the crowning achievements (outside of Ben-Hur) of William Wyler’s very long and distinguished careers. I’ve watched it countless times, and each time the lightly bittersweet ending brings a tear to the eye and a smile to my face. It’s a movie that can be seen by people of all ages, and just WORKS across countless generations. It doesn’t feel dated or cliched, and if you can look past a few wonky hair styles, it is one of the most visually pleasing black and white films I’ve ever seen.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




4K Video: Video:

Taken from the same 4K remastering done for the 2020 Blu-ray release, Roman Holiday is of marvelous quality in 4K UHD. I loved the Blu-ray picture image (though they did tweak the framing ever so slightly on that release. It was zoomed in a hair and then opened up on the right just a tad), and really was wondering just how much of an improvement we would see going from 1080p to 4K. Well, luckily the answer is “rather impressively”. The black and white picture won’t show sparkling colors or anything, but the rich contrast between inky blacks and different shades of gray creates a wonderfully textured look. The clarity is sharp and clean, showing a TON more detail levels on faces, backgrounds, and even clothing. There are still going to be some naturally soft images due to how the film was shot back then (such as Peck walking towards the camera from the square. His face will always look out of focus), but overall this entire upgrade is well worth the cost. Great details, sharp contrast, and blacks that literally are as deep and inky as you could want without artifacting.








Audio:

The 2.0 Mono track in lossless Dolby TrueHD is an identical track to the Paramount Presents Blu-ray 3 years ago, so nothing more needs to be said than what I reviewed 3 years ago. It sounds great as it can be considering that it is an old school mono track. I almost gave it a 5/5 score simply due to the fact that it is just about flawless for a mono track, but being that it has no surrounds, no channel separation and no LFE mean that it’s more fair to knock half a star down to 4.5 due to the limitations of the source mix. That being said, the Mono track is just about perfect. Clean and crisp vocals, a nice balance with the airy score, and every bit of dialog is crystal clear. No major sounds of hisses or pops are present, and except for a VERY light echo in some scenes, it sounds as if it was recorded yesterday.







Extras:

• PREVIOUS 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
• Filmmaker Focus: Leonard Maltin on Roman Holiday
• Behind the Gates: Costumes
• Rome with a Princess
• Audrey Hepburn: The Paramount Years
• Dalton Trumbo: From A-List to Blacklist
• Paramount in the '50s: Remembering Audrey
• Theatrical Trailers
• Four Photo Galleries: Production, The Movie, Publicity, The Premiere

Final Score: ​

Roman Holiday is an amazing film, and one of the greatest romantic flicks in Audrey’s very large arsenal of films. The Blu-ray took FOREVER to finally come out on home video (over a decade into Blu-ray’s lifespan) but luckily 4K fanatics haven’t had to wait nearly as long. The 4K UHD looks great, and carries the same great extras and audio track from the remastered Blu-ray years ago. And by some gift of god to a worthy audience, Paramount has decided to forego their recent policy of only including the 4K UHD disc, and gives us the Paramount Presents Blu-ray to make the set a combo pack (and retain all of the extras, as that’s where they reside). Keep it up Paramount. Great set.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert, Harcourt Williams, Margaret Rawling, Tulio Carminati
Directed by: William Wyler
Written by: Ian McLellan, John Dighton, Dalton Trumbo
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Mono, French DD 2.0 Mono
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French
Studio: Paramount
Rated: NR
Runtime: 118 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 15th, 2023

Recommendation: Must Own

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I agree, a great movie to own.

 

[JStewart]

I’ve really been enjoying some of these older movies lately.
Thanks for the review. I just ordered it now and it looks like the release date is tomorrow. I see a good date night in the immediate future.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Never watched this, but I have a feeling I'd enjoy it. Going to purchase!

That aside, this release has cover art that looks like a cross between Pee Wee Herman and a bad acid trip. Couldn't they have secured an artist to give it what, based on your review, it deserves?

 

[Michael Scott]

Never watched this, but I have a feeling I'd enjoy it. Going to purchase!

That aside, this release has cover art that looks like a cross between Pee Wee Herman and a bad acid trip. Couldn't they have secured an artist to give it what, based on your review, it deserves?

LOL!!! I know what you mean. It's supposed to imitate one of the original DVD art covers and the characters are supposed to be cut out from photos and super imposed over the background (makes sense if you've watched the movie as photographs are a major plot points) but they really ruddied up the background image and make it look super burnished and like you're high on acid.

 

[JStewart]

Watched it and think it’s definitely deserving of Michael’s glowing review.
Perfect ending, too.
It‘ll see more than one replay in our household!