Sabrina

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Billy Wilder
Starring:	Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden
Release date:	29 December, 2004
List price:	~~$12.99~~
Our price:	$10.52 that is 19% off!

Sabrina

Average rating: Stars

Sabrina: Original better than remake...duh!

Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden perform wonderfully in this drama about two people on opposite sides of the proverbial tracks falling in love. The cast does a great job distinguishing their characters. One can tell Harrison Ford studied Bogart's portrayal for his role in the remake (he wasn't able to pull it off). Definitely worth the investment!

Sabrina - Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and more

Hepburn's Fragile Beauty Remains Unequaled

I must be the last movie lover on earth to see this movie. I had heard so many good things about SABRINA that I suppose I expected the moon and then some. As the rest of the world has known for a long time now, the film stars three phenomenal actors: Audry Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden and was directed by the great Billy Wilder. The plot is classic as well. The daughter of a rich family's chauffeur goes away to Paris and returns two years later, a sophisticate able to win rich brothers' hearts. When Sabrina arrives at the local train station, fashionably dressed with a poodle in tow, her breath-taking beauty is not to be believed. Shot in black and white, many of the frames are extraordinarily beautiful. There is much to enjoy about this delightful comedy. The French cooking class scenes are almost as funny as Julia's; William Holden's recovery from sitting on champagne glasses will make your laugh out loud. Certainly the movie is Hepburn's. Her fragile beauty remains unequaled. This film certainly is far and away better than most of the things coming out of Hollywood today disguised as comedy, and I understand that one complains about a classic to his own peril. My problem with this movie, however, is with the two male actors. We can forgive a young girl's obsession with a playboy; but having lived in Paris, she should have long since have gotten over him by the time she returned-- she hadn't. Finally, I saw little if any chemistry between Hepburn and Bogart. That Sabrina could have had any man she wanted is so, so believable. That she wanted either of these two doesn't totally fly unless the movie stands for the proposition that beautiful women make very bad choices. Apparently Cary Grant originally was slated to play the part that Bogart got. It would have been interesting to see him in that role, particularly since he and Hepburn paired up so well in CHARADES a few years later.

This still, however, remains a movie to see.

Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and more - Sabrina

Bogey robs the cradle again

Of course, Audrey Hepburn's cradle ain't just any ol' cradle. Ms. Hepburn's solid starmaking role in "Roman Holiday" was followed by this equally solid performance as a pony-tailed Long Island teen who loves daddy's boss William Holden from afar, moves to Paris to forget about him while attending a two-year cooking school, and returns sophisticated enough to wow Holden and, ultimately, his older brother, Humphrey Bogart. It's framed as a fairy tale, a rags-to-riches Upstairs/Downstairs story, and is often quite charming and even hilarious at times.

Now, it's really not the age difference that bothers me so much. In fact, Billy Wilder's script and direction wisely guide this relationship in such a way that it's easy to see how the maturing young lady becomes disenchanted with Holden's carefree playboy character and sees the advantages of hooking up with Mr. Responsible instead--and part of the pleasure of "Sabrina" is watching Bogey himself play a Mr. Responsible, a business tycoon, a role intended for Cary Grant. My only real problem with this film is that I just don't sense any chemistry between Hepburn and Bogart, not at all like that of Bogey and Bacall or, indeed, if Cary Grant had shown up in the role of the older brother after all.

With this sole reservation, I recommend "Sabrina" because it succeeds in its goal: Light romantic comedy with some social commentary, one of Wilder's strongest genres over the years. It's an added bonus to see such familiar faces as Nancy Culp (TV's "Beverly Hillbillies"), Ellen Corby (TV's "The Waltons"), and Francis X. Bushman (one-time "King Of the Movies" in the silent era) sprinkled throughout the cast. I wouldn't list it as one of the best films to feature Hepburn, Bogey, or even Holden, but it's far from one of the worst.