a valentine's movie to be sure: billy wilder's
sabrina (1954) is the epitome of classic and cute -- a cinderella fairytale.
sabrina was audrey hepburn's second big movie. she first starred in
roman holiday (1953), and edith head had designed audrey's costumes. in sabrina, head provided costumes for the first part of the movie, but for the second half, wilder wanted audrey to wear givenchy.
when givenchy was told "miss hepburn" was there to see him, he was disappointed that it wasn't
katherine. but of course givenchy quickly became enchanted with audrey, and the two of them became friends. givenchy designed clothes for her personal wardrobe as well as other films.
hepburn and william holden had a passionate fling during the movie, but it didn't last. holden, a married man, often had affairs with his costars. before the movie finished shooting, audrey met mel ferrer, who she would soon marry. the two would collaborate in plays and films -- including
wait until dark (1967), which he produced. they were married in 1954, had a son, and divorced in 1968.
i really liked humphrey bogart in this movie. wilder originally wanted cary grant to play the part, but grant backed out just weeks before shooting the film. personally, i feel like it would have been a completely different movie if grant had played the part. as much as i like cary grant, i'm glad it was bogart for this one. apparently, bogart and wilder did not get along very well at all, but eventually they patched things up later in life.
there was
a remake in 1995 with harrison ford and julia ormond. i've heard good things about it, but i haven't seen it. i wonder, though: could it possibly compare?
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