Summer re-views: favourite Sabrina moments
We can always sit down and look at SABRINA one more time - its a perennial Billy Wilder favourite, so 1954 and with that perfect black and white Paramount look. Audrey looks entrancing here, after her ROMAN HOLIDAY. Bogie is fine, maybe a bit too old, while breezy Holden (romancing Audrey at the time, before she chose Mel Ferrer) is just right too. Here are a few favourite moments:
Audrey up in that tree at the start as the wealthy Larrabees party; her return from Paris all tres-Givenchy; that delicious moment at the party when worried Mrs Larrabee tries to put the family chauffeur's daughter in her place by asking her to come up to the house sometime to cook something delicious for them to show what she has learned in Paris - I love the way Audrey/Sabrina says "Oh, I've learned a lot" ... as she dances off in that dress with Holden, who is engaged to country club girl Martha Hyer who "does not want to spend the first twelve hours of her marriage on a plane, sitting up" - maybe a bit risque for 1954, but another example of the Wilder wit. Then there is Audrey is that little black dress posed against that New York skyline .... as older brother Linus woos Sabrina to ensure the merger with Holden and Hyer goes through. John Williams, Nancy Culp etc are sterling support and it all looks a treat. We love Sabrina's Paris apartment window looking out at Sacre Coeur, as "La Vie En Rose" plays in the background ....
We can always sit down and look at SABRINA one more time - its a perennial Billy Wilder favourite, so 1954 and with that perfect black and white Paramount look. Audrey looks entrancing here, after her ROMAN HOLIDAY. Bogie is fine, maybe a bit too old, while breezy Holden (romancing Audrey at the time, before she chose Mel Ferrer) is just right too. Here are a few favourite moments: 
Audrey up in that tree at the start as the wealthy Larrabees party; her return from Paris all tres-Givenchy; that delicious moment at the party when worried Mrs Larrabee tries to put the family chauffeur's daughter in her place by asking her to come up to the house sometime to cook something delicious for them to show what she has learned in Paris - I love the way Audrey/Sabrina says "Oh, I've learned a lot" ... as she dances off in that dress with Holden, who is engaged to country club girl Martha Hyer who "does not want to spend the first twelve hours of her marriage on a plane, sitting up" - maybe a bit risque for 1954, but another example of the Wilder wit. Then there is Audrey is that little black dress posed against that New York skyline .... as older brother Linus woos Sabrina to ensure the merger with Holden and Hyer goes through. John Williams, Nancy Culp etc are sterling support and it all looks a treat. We love Sabrina's Paris apartment window looking out at Sacre Coeur, as "La Vie En Rose" plays in the background ....
I was never that big a fan of SABRINA (though it is has always been better than the remake) until I caught it about 2 years ago and was fairly captivated, mainly by Hepburn who was at her gamine best here.
ReplyDeleteThere was a remake? Yes of course but we didnt bother with it, Harrison may have been ok. The Audrey replacement - I won't even name her - didn't last longv ...
ReplyDeleteHope Wilder got a lot of dosh from it, like he must have from Sunset Boulevard.
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