Goodnight Vienna

The Third Man (1949)

Classic British film noir today directed by Carol Reed and staring Joseph cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles and Trevor Howard. In a divided post war Vienna an American author hunts for the murders of his dead friend.

Black and white photography combined with the back drop of a historic city that has been bombed out provide a really great foundation to build a film on and the excellent cinematography on show here really brings that out as does the films music. This is a really well crafted film that exudes style and atmosphere.

As this is a film noir not everything turns out as one might expect in the plot, although waiting for Orson Wells to turn up is a slight spoiler. The plot is not especially deep and is a little slow to get going which is a slight disappointment but does not detract from the film. I also think some of the characters could have been a little more fleshed out, the Czech girl friend in particular but there is a great ending moment.

4/5 one of the classic film noir and a historic piece of British cinema.

X-citing?

X-Men (2000)

Director Bryan Singer brings together a large cast of this adaptation of Marvel's comic book franchise. People with mutations that give them special powers try to find their place in a largely distrustful and unforgiving world.

Maybe the biggest thing about this film is that it really kicked off the super hero film revolution, particularly for Marvel, after being the highest grossing film of 2000. What X-Men did was show a cinema going audience that you can use super heroes to tell grown up stories about things like minority rights. It also had the good fortune to come along at a time when technology is making it more and more possible to film fantastical stories such as super hero films at lower budgets with more believability.

While some characters are given little screen time there is good depth given to the right characters, Magneto is not just a generic bad guy and has real reasons for his actions for example which is probably more important to creating a good film than fleshing out members of the X-Men team like Storm. Casting Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen gives the film some real weight in the important roles and helps define the morale struggle of the X-Men's world. The effects and action sequences are not as impressive as we might expect from a big blockbuster like this but the story and themes used make up for that.

4/5 the film that popularised a genre.

Fire Breathing?

How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

Based on the children's book of the same name this animated adventure stars Jay Baruchel and Gerard Butler. Vikings living on a small northern island are regularly attacked by dragons and the chief's son is not much into fighting them.

Essentially this is a really good version of the usual stuff you see in children's films with a boy and his pet and coming of age in a world you do not feel you fit into. While there is nothing especially original about this film the sections with the boy and his dragon are well done and the film as a whole is pretty well polished even if you can connect all the dots a mile off. The voice acting is decent and the animation of a high standard, although I did not see the 3D version or not so I can not say if it is better in that format or not.

4/5 a good film for kids.

Dark heart

Heartless (2009)

British horror today from writer/director Philip Ridley and staring Jim Sturgess. There are monsters on the streets of London as a young man with a large birth mark on his face tries to come to terms with his place in the world.

There are a number of interesting elements in this film such as the nature of modern street crime, what would a person do to achieve the life they want and questions of mental stability. Unfortunately there are just too many ingredients in this film and it ends up not really being sure what it wants to be. We end up with most elements of the film not being fully realised or explored due to the cluttered and shifting nature of the plot. The ending in particular is rushed and confusing, ending up drifting a long way from the promising start.

3/5 not bad but a really good film got lost in here somewhere.

Lower leagues?

She's Out of My League (2010)

Jay Baruchel and Alice Eve star in this romantic comedy from the writer of Hot Tub Time Machine (2010). Boy meets girl and you can probably work out the general gist of the rest of it from the title.

As a genre romantic comedy is home to some of the worst bilge Hollywood puts out, the same film made over and over again with few variations in the details and often mind numbing execution. Amazingly this is one of the lucky few attempts that manages to rise above the usual genre disappointments and is actually pretty good. There are some really funny moments along the way and the plot is not as shallow and stupid as you often come across. Obviously there is not a ton of originality involved in this film but it stays clear of the usual genre pitfalls.

3/5 who knew there were watch-able romantic comedies out there.

Damn blogger

The site was broken yesterday so it's another double update day.

Stagecoach (1939)

There are a number firsts for John Ford as he directs his first Western with sound, his first film in Monument Valley and his first collaboration with friend John Wayne. A group of strangers ride a stagecoach through Arizona to New Mexico in 1880 while Indians are on the war path.

Winning two Oscars in it's day and numerous plaudits since this film is seen as one of the ground breakers for it's day. There are some interesting characters on show and the final action sequences are impressive but the build up is fairly slow and you do not get the impression of a tension filled ride across hostile territory in the early parts of the film. It is interesting to see how the common Western theme of outsiders being shunned or against the local community as well as distrust of some of the baggage civilization brings is used even in this early genre entry.

4/5 maybe more notable for it's historical value than it's actual content.

The Greatest (2009)

Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon star in this drama alongside Care Mulligan from writer/director Shana Feste. A teenage boy is killed in a road accident and his pregnant girlfriend moves in with his parents.

This is pretty much an average getting over someone dying film that has few shocks along the way. There are average performances from the cast and what the film does best is stay clear of clichés and being overly melodramatic as some films in this genre often are. Being unoriginal and not really offering any new insight into the process of grief are probably the worst charges you could level at this film.

3/5 there are plenty of other films like this out there.

The Underhill charge

Fletch (1985)

Chevy Chase stars as the title character in this comedy film based on the novel of the same name. There is a drug problem on the local beach and a fast talking investigative reporter goes under various covers to try and find out where the drugs are coming from.

It is hard to find a lot to say about this film, there are some laughs along the way but for the most part it is not overly funny. The plot relies a little on coincidence which I am not really a huge fan of but is other wise fairly standard for a comedy film, it is not exactly realistic but it is not beyond the realms of reality either. What is most striking about the film is how the sound track is so quintessentially 80s and does date the film a little but not necessarily in a bad way.

3/5 a fairly average comedy.

Heavy

The Heroes of Telemark (1965)

Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris star in this war film based on real events and directed by Anthony Mann. When the Nazis invaded Norway they gained control of a heavy water production factory that would be important to any nuclear weapons program and thus the Allies were keen to sabotage.

While this film chronicles real events it does the usual Hollywood of taking a number of liberties with character and events in an attempt to make a better film. The biggest and most unbelievable invention of the plot is sticking in a professor who becomes a member of the sabotage team with no training, presumably an attempt to stick in a big name American actor in Kirk Douglas to increase interest in the US. Despite a number of historical inaccuracies the film does at least give a general idea of the lengths Norwegian resistance went to to stop Germany getting it's hands on heavy water.

As a piece of entertainment the film is largely adequately made but is not especially tense or exciting. The snow scape backdrops do make for some nice visuals even if they are not particularly capitalised on which is a shame as you would think that Anthony Mann who is better known for his Westerns would be better at using landscape.

3/5

Sell out?

Cop Out (2010)

Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan star in this buddy cop comedy film directed by Kevin Smith, although unusually for Smith not written by him. Two cops get suspended and one needs to raise money for his daughters wedding, the baseball card he was planning to sell to fund the wedding gets stolen.

There are a fair amount of films available in this genre and while this is not the best of the bunch it is not bad either. While there is little to make the plot stand out and the performances are not especially remarkable there are enough jokes along the way to keep this film entertaining. Much like the rest of the film the action sequences are fairly average too, not adding or taking away anything from the film.

3/5 watch-able if it is on.

Tin man

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Robert Downey Jr returns as playboy and inventor Tony Stark for this sequel based on the well known Marvel super hero. During the cold war Tony's dad fell out with a Soviet defector and how his son wants revenge, mean while Tony is coming to terms with being a super hero.

Sequels are rarely as good as originals and this is the case here as the Iron Man franchise continues with a good entry but beyond all the bells and whistles special effects there does not appear to be a lot going on. There are some interesting issues raised such as what over sight if any there should be to Iron Man as well as how the Iron Man role fits in with Tony's life but unfortunately the film is a bit of a muddle trying to incorporate too much and focusing on too little. Marvel also has a whole stable of adaptations on the go now that are interlinked and with the SHIELD/Avengers projects seeping into this film it again adds to the clutter. All that being said this is still an entertaining and funny film even if it is not particularly remarkable.

One serious issue I am left to ponder from the film is the magical nature of Scarlett Johansson's hair as it changes between straight and wavy seemingly instantly as her character changes in and out of cover identities.

3/5 an average super hero film.

Bore

Springfield Rifle (1952)

In the same year Gary Cooper starred in High Noon (1952) he also stared in this American Civil War Western. A Union Major is kicked out of the army and joins a gang that is stealing horses from the Union to sell to the South.

You can see the plot of this film coming a mile off and there are no surprises along the way as our hero isn't really a coward but infiltrating the bad guys to take them down, shocker. Given the short run time of the film it still manages to run really slowly with a lot of time taken up with going back and forth between the two sides. The locations used are nice enough but other than that it is hard to find a lot to praise in this film.

2/5 a weak and unoriginal effort.

That'll be the day

The Searchers (1956)

John Ford teams up with John Wayne once again for this Western that while not nominated for any academy awards has since been rated as one best Western of all time by the American Film Institute. Civil War veteran John Wayne returns home to visit his brother's family who are shortly all killed in a Comanche attack apart from his young niece who is kidnapped.

The Western and the United States in general have a poor history of relations with Native Americans and in this film we have a study of the racism and revenge that drove that part of history. For once John Wayne actually plays a flawed character in the heavily bigoted veteran who despite his apparent knowledge of Comanche culture and language wants nothing more than to wipe out as many as possible, even his own niece once she has spent too much time living with them. Not only do we have to think about the historic issue of race depicted in the film but we should also remember this was made at a time when the Civil Rights movement was just starting in the US.

While the issue of racism is one of the main themes of the film it is not over bearing and there are still some subtle issues to pick up on line the possible relationship between Wayne's character and his brothers wife. As always Monument Valley provides an excellent back drop for Ford and there are some nice snow scenes that help show the progress of time in a plot that spans five years. Maybe some of the comedic elements are slightly out of place but they do not stick out and over all this is a really good film.

5/5 one of the most thoughtful Westerns of it's era.

The bomb

Seven Days to Noon (1950)

This British thriller won an academy award for best story and stars Barry Jones. A professor that is part of Britain's nuclear weapons program has a nervous break down and threatens to blow up London.

Five years after the end of World War Two the world is still trying to come to terms with the idea of atomic weapons and what they say about the nations that build them. What is interesting is that this film pre-dates Britain testing it's first nuclear weapon by a couple of years. The plot deals with this issue in a fairly balanced way and has a good level of tension as the police try to hunt down the rogue professor in an evacuated London. The characters and some of their language is slightly dated but for the most part the issues raised in the film are equally applicable to the modern world, especially the idea of terrorism to achieve political change.

4/5 a thoughtful post war effort.

Swede

The Killers (1946)

Making his screen début Burt Lancaster stars alongside Ava Gardner in this classic film noir based on a short story from Ernest Hemmingway. Two hit men turn up to a small town and gun down a loner gas station attendant but no one knows why.

Lancaster and Gardner may be the nominal stars and better known names most of the film is taken up by an insurance investigator played by Edmond O'Brien trying to unravel the mystery as the stars appear in flashback. As with many films of this genre this is a tale of crime, double dealings and femme fatales but what makes it stand out is the good use of the flashback technique to tell the tale of the murder victim in a much more interesting way than if this had been a standard narrative. Interestingly the film was later remade and includes Ronald Reagan's last screen appearance before going into politics.

4/5 this is a well made film and one of the classic 40s film noirs that defined the genre.

Not for the eagle eyed viewer

The Gift (2009)

Also known as Echelon Conspiracy in the US this conspiracy thriller stars Shane West (who?) with support from Edward Burns, Ving Rhames, Jonathan Pryce and Martin Sheen. When a young computer engineer receives a mobile phone in the post strange things start to happen.

To say the plot for this film is recycled would be being kind, government invasion of personal privacy for security reasons and computers becoming sentient are both interesting topics unfortunately neither is explored and are just used as MacGuffins in this film. You get a real feeling that this is a paint by numbers film, pick a couple of buzz words for the plot and throw in a sex scene, an action scene and a car chase and we will call that done. I honestly could not care what happens to the protagonist as he has no personality at all and as the plot is easily worked out straight away that does not leave any reason to watch this film.

2/5 a poor attempt at a story you can see done much better else where.

Reading English books

An Education (2009)

Carey Mulligan stars in this coming of age tale set in 1960's England based on the memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber. There is a lot of talent on show here with a script from Nick Hornby and co stars including Peter Sarsgaard, Rosamund Pike, Emma Thompson and Olivia Williams.

What this film is mainly about is the struggle of a young girl to find her place in the world when most around her seem to think that her ultimate goal should be to get a good education so she can get a good husband. While we live in a more open society now I am sure young women still face similar if not identical problems to the main character. There is not a lot that is revolutionary about this film but it is well made and stays clear of the usual clichés and being overly melodramatic. The highlight of the film is Mulligan's performance and the cast in general.

4/5 a good example of the coming of age genre.

Caged animal

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)

Werner Herzog directs Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes in this crime drama with tenusious links to Bad Lieutenant (1992). A policeman in New Orleans has a bad back, drug addiction, a prostitute girl friend and a gambling problem that get in the way of his investigation into the murder of an immigrant family.

As much as Herzog may deny it this is a remake and unfortunately it lacks the thematic depth of the original film with it's undercurrent of catholic guilt and redemption. Nicholas Cage has been getting a bit of a reputation for turning terrible performances in bad films lately but this is actually a decent effort from him and the film is fairly good even if it is not on par with the original. Where I do have a problem with this film is it's weak ending, despite the best efforts of a degenerate protagonist and events closing in on him some how we end up with a ridiculously out of place happy ending.

3/5 not bad but the original is a vastly better film and study of self destruction.

Double duty

It seems that blogger lost yesterdays post so two reviews today.

The Day Will Dawn (1942)

Also known as “The Avengers” in the US this British war time propaganda piece stars Ralph Richardson and Deborah Kerr. A young British reporter is sent to Norway on the eve of the German invasion of Norway.

Given that this was made in Britain during the war it is obviously a propaganda piece and a call to arms for both the British and the peoples of occupied Europe it is still a decent film. While not exactly an action filled piece the political nature of the film is not over bearing enough to stifle the plot completely. Where the film is weak is that it does not delve particularly deeply into the dilemmas facing an occupied people or the harsh realities that face those that do collaborate for whatever reason. Considering when the film was made and the shortages that the film makers must have faced the production values are actually pretty good in the action sequences it does depict.

3/5 an average war time piece.

China Moon (1994)

Ed Harris, Madeleine Stowe and Benicio del Toro star in this neo-noir offering from John Bailey. A policeman falls in love with a married woman who is abused by her husband.

There are two main problems with this film, the first is that it takes too long to get going as nearly the entire first half of the film is taken up introducing the characters and setting up the scenario. The second problem is that the plot is completely derivative, there are no shocks or surprises along the way because this film has been made so many times before with only slightly different details. With such a good cast you would expect decent performances but there is nothing here to help the film rise above it's unoriginal plot and weak writing.

2/5 you have seen this film done much better before.

shortie

The Animatrix (2003)

In conjunction with the release of the sequels to The Matrix (1999) a collection of nine animated short films were made and complied as The Animatrix. The short films cover a number of topics from unrelated tales, missing gaps in the films and a two parter covering the start of the war.

This compilation provides a real mix of styles, stories and quality so in some sense it is hard to review as a whole. The best parts of the collection come in the two part “The Second Renaissance” which covers the start of the human-machine war and is filled with great little nuggets and references to real world history. Of the stand alone stories the best is “World Record” with the others being mostly average. Those shorts that fill in gaps in the story from the films do not really add very much to the plot but are all well made.

What the collection does best is provide a showcase of different anime styles and while some of the shorts are interesting sadly a number of them do not do much more than showcase a different style. There are no bad entries but most have little real depth to the stories, which is not surprising as most run to only nine minutes.

3.5/5 I've given an in between score to reflect the balance between good entries and the mainly average ones.

Good bye baby

Double Indemnity (1944)

Bill Wilder directs Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in this film noir based on the novel of the same name. An insurance sales man falls in love with a married woman and they plot to kill her husband so she can collect the insurance money and they can be together.

This is an interesting film as it was a ground breaker in a number of ways. There were several attempts by studios to option the novel the film is based on when it first went into print but the studios could not find a way to get it passed the code of conduct which they had to work under, even ten years later when the film was finally made there was still a battle to get the script cleared. Stylistically this was also one of the classic and defining entries into the film noir genre that came to have a large influence on Hollywood for the next fifteen years or more.

Unusually the story is told from the point of view of one of the murderers, while this is often the case in other crime films such as heist films it is pretty hard to warm an audience up to cold blooded killers. For the most part the film is really well made and the plot unravels really well with some great tension and atmosphere. The only problem I have is how quickly the sales man falls under the femme fatale's spell is a little unbelievable in my opinion but this can be put down to the film making constraints of the time. In it's time this film was revolutionary and still holds up today but some of the impact is probably lost on modern viewers due to the unrestricted nature of film making that has followed.

4/5 a real genre classic.

Messing about on the river

The Sand Pebbles (1966)

Better known for his musicals Robert Wise directs Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough in this epic drama set in Interwar China based on the novel of the same name. A United States gun boat is caught up in the nationalist reunification of China with a story told from the point of view of the ship's new mechanic.

While this film may be about imperialist involvement in China it is hard not to see this as a critique for American involvement in the Vietnam war which was starting to escalate at the time of production. The main themes of the film are colonialism and racism both on a more personal level through the way the crew treats the Chinese they encounter and at a political level. Overall the plot works well in showing the outsiders attitudes to the Chinese but also the ideas of honour and pride that motivate some of their misguided actions, particularly in the last third of the movie. It is also good to see that there is no sugar coating of the Chinese nationalists and communists who oppose the Americans as can often be the case in films on this subject.

Despite a fairly painful production the film is well made and well acted, McQueen picked up his only Oscar nomination for his role in this film. The film is a little slow in places compared to some modern films that have to rush along from action sequence to action sequence but this is not a dull film and I did not feel that it dragged at any point.

4/5 a good film.

Keeping up

The Joneses (2009)

Demi Moore, David Duchovny and Amber Heard star in this low budget effort from first time director Derrick Borte. A fake family moves to a high income area to stealth market to their affluent neighbours.

This is a really good little film about the increasing commercial nature of modern life and the drive to achieve happiness through materialism. The dark nature of the fake families way off life ultimately has a negative affect on others as well as themselves but it is interesting to see how the team start to bond and become a family themselves while looking for something more from their lives which makes us wonder about the place of the family in the modern world. All in all this is a well made film with a good cast and while given recent world economic conditions maybe we do not need a film to show us where we have gone wrong this is an entertaining film that is not overly preachy.

4/5 well worth watching.

Greek

Get Him to the Greek (2010)

Johan Hill and Russell Brand star in this comedy spin off sequel with support from Rose Byrne and P Diddy from the production stable of Judd Apatow. A low level talent scout from Los Angeles has to help get a self destructive British rocker to a concert in the US.

There are some laughs along the way but this is not an especially impressive film, for the most part the plot is by the numbers with no real depth. While Brand's character is supposed to be a heroin addict the actual affects are largely ignored and it seems that taking heroin does not actually have any affect on his health. The film is well enough made but it is very hard to find a reason to recommend it.

3/5 a lazy attempt at a gross out comedy

Everything that has a beginning...

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

Four hours into the matrix experience and the end is now in sight with this final instalment in the trilogy. We left off on a cliff hanger, Neo's body and mind have become separated and the machines are closing in on Zion, so now it is time to resolve the story.

There is a fair amount of hate out there for the third film in the series but actually I think it works a lot better than Reloaded which really seemed to suffer from being part two of three. While again this film lacks the polish and conciseness of the original there are a lot less of the problems that bogged down the second film. One of the main complaints about the plot is that the ending lacks some closure and I certainly had that feeling when I first saw the film but did we really expect to be told what to think from writer/directors that have spent 3 films encouraging free thought?

The main set piece of the film is that of the machine attack on Zion and it is a real sight to behold, it is one of those things you just have to see on the big screen really. There is a visual feast that manages to stay clear of being too cluttered and confusing which seems to be a common pitfall now modern CGI lets film makers run into excess with their imaginations. Obviously most of the things this film does well it has in common with it's predecessors so I do not think I need to reiterate them all. In the end I do think this is a good conclusion to the series even if it is not necessarily the ending people wanted or are used to from epic hero trilogies.

4/5 not as bad as all the hate it gets.

Choice

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Following the success of the original film at least one sequel was always going to be inevitable and Hollywood loves a trilogy so all the gang are back for the two sequels that were shot back to back in Australia. Now in full command of his powers Neo has been kicking his heals trying to work out what the One is actually supposed to do, cue the action.

Sometimes when you have had a massive success it is best to just leave things along but there was plenty of scope for further exploration of the Matrix world and this film does a good job of fleshing out the world. What we find out is what we might have expected from some of the hints in the original film, being the One is not necessarily all it is cracked up to be. There is a greater exploration of the idea of free will in this film and in general it does a good job expanding the world. I especially like some of the subtle details such as the way the design of Zion reflects or inverts the design of the battery farms the machines use.

Sequels rarely surpass or even achieve the same levels as the films they are following and it is a shame to say that Reloaded does fall short of the excellent original film. To quote the film itself I think “the problem is choice”, with a bigger budget comes the ability to do so much more and while the action sequences are stunning, really taking the action to the next level, they have become over bearing. In my opinion too much of the film is taken up by action sequences that stretch out too long and often do not advance the plot greatly. What the film lacks is the overall polish and balance of the original, as well as the unbalancing nature of the action sequences there is also too much exposition by dialogue that does not have impressive visuals to accomplish it as in the first film.

4/5 still a very good film but comes up short of greatness.

How to operate with a blown mind

The Matrix (1999)

Pretty much out of nowhere in 1999 the Wachowski brothers unleashed The Matrix staring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss. A young software engineer is bored with his life and seeks something more by indulging in cyber crime in his spare time.

While not massively original on a basic level what makes this film stand out is it's vast ranging influences and exceptional execution. Influences for the plot start with Plato's Allegory of the Cave and runs through philosophy, dystopia fiction, dream fiction from the likes of Lewis Carroll, Japanese animation, Hong Kong action film and the cyberpunk movement. It make take the basic hero plot that served as a model so well on many occasions, think Luke Skywalker, but this great depth of themes really elevates the film far beyond your basic action film. You can really watch this film back a number of times and run a fine tooth comb over the dialogue which does a great job of hiding little nuggets you may miss the first time.

The film itself picked up 4 Oscars for the excellent technical work but it is a surprise that it did not pick up more, not even nominated for best film. Everything about this film is spot on from the sets, music and actions sequences creating a tour de force of tone and atmosphere through out, the first third of the film in particular is outstanding for this. Given the directors only previous film was a much lower budget drama with little or no special effects it really is an amazing achievement. Keanu Reeves is not the world's greatest actor but he does a good job in the lead role but Laurence Fishburne really deserved an Oscar for a performance that did not even get him a nomination.

What makes this film so great is that it has not only style in abundance but also attention to detail and substance. The themes of the film are clear but remain general enough that they can apply to various systems of control and put some real flesh on the bones of the amazing action sequences that are the antithesis of the modern trend for confusing flash cutting.

5/5 it is hard to believe it has been over 10 years.

Caving to problems

The Scouting Book for Boys (2009)

This independent British film stars Thomas Turgoose, best known as the kid from This Is England (2006). Two friends that live on an holiday park that their parents work on try to come to terms with adult emotions and relationships.

This is not your average coming of age tale and the final third of the film in particular has a dark side to it. While the film has a slightly slow pace has an excellent tone and atmosphere that pulls you in as events spiral out of control. There is a real depth to this film as we see the main characters struggling with a situation they can no longer control and unrequited love. Overall it is a well made film with interesting subject matter but is probably not for younger viewers.

4/5 a low budget gem

Madness in the music

Shine (1996)

This Australian film tells the tale of pianist David Helfgott and stars Geoffrey Rush in an Oscar winning performance. Following a tough childhood with an over bearing father a child prodigy has to deal with mental health problems.

While the film is well made it is fairly shallow, there is little exploration of the causes and onset of the protagonists mental illness and as always we are left to wonder about the accuracy of a film based on a “true story” given that David's first marriage is completely ignored. Geoffrey Rush gives a good 1000 word a minute portrayal of the older David but this is only a minor part of the film as large parts focus on the younger part of David's life. All in all this is an average film which may have dubious relation to real life events.

3/5

Scooting around

Roman Holiday (1953)

William Wyler directs Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in this classic filmed in Rome that picked up three Oscars including one for Hepburn. A young princes gets bored of her diplomatic schedule while on a European tour and does a bunk in Rome to get some time to herself.

For being one of the supposed all time great romantic comedies it is interesting to see how much of a sleazy undertone there is to this film, our hero is pretty self interested and looks to take advantage of others early and it is not clear how young the heroine is supposed to be. As a genre it is always hard to get carried away with any romantic comedy but this is probably one of the best the genre has to offer with a great backdrop in Rome, good cast, some funny moments and it manages not to take itself too seriously and get over melodramatic.

4/5 one of the best examples of what this era of film making has to offer.