Roman Holiday

A romantic comedy with a touch of old-fashioned sentimentality, drawing from the traditions of the American genre. A charming princess Anna, heir to the throne of a fictional European country, arrives in Rome for a state visit. After an exhausting schedule, she is given a sedative - but before it takes effect, Anna secretly ventures into the night streets. Drowsiness overtakes her along the way, and she ends up in the apartment of a journalist who plans to use her for a sensational story the next day, taking her around Rome with his photographer friend.

Director William Wyler brought the comedy an understated perfection and lightness. The experienced journalist Joe Bradley was played by Gregory Peck (The Paradine Case, Roman Holiday, The Big Country, Cape Fear), and Princess Anna by Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade), who won an Oscar for this performance.

Two more Oscars went to Edith Head for best costumes for a black-and-white film and to screenwriter Ian McLellan Hunter for the original screenplay - Hunter's name covered for the real author Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted at the time.