Sabrina

Genre: romantic comedy    

With: Humphrey Bogart (Linus Larrabee), Audrey Hepburn (Sabrina Fairchild), William Holden (David Larrabee), Walter Hampden (Oliver Larrabee), John Williams (Thomas Fairchild), Martha Hyer (Elizabeth Tyson), Joan Vohs (Gretchen Van Horn), Marcel Dalio (Baron St. Fontanel)

Director: Billy Wilder

Screenplay: Billy Wilder, Samuel Taylor and Ernest Lehman (from a play by Samuel Taylor)

Release: 1954

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Rating: PG

MBiS score: 8.0/10

She May Be Reaching for the Moon But She’s Got a Pretty Long Arm

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Story-line: the daughter of a chauffeur working for a wealthy Long Island family is secretly in love with David, the family’s younger son… but David and kin have more appealing prospects in mind.  

Pluses: an effective screenplay peppered with humour and sparkling dialogues, excellent direction, an able cast displaying impeccable comic timing, a delicately tailored ending and Bogart’s ode to capitalism recalling Gordon Gekko’s in WALL STREET.  

Minuses: the film may require a leap of faith here and there but no more than any other modern fairy tale.  

Comments: SABRINA is not one of Billy Wilder’s greatest accomplishments but its value cannot be denied, especially when you compare it with the fatally flawed remake of 1995. Enjoy the wonderful dynamics between Bogart, Hepburn and Holden, three huge Hollywood stars, and pay attention to Marcel Dalio (1900-1983) in a minor role. During his long film and television career, Marcel has worked with Gabin, Gene Kelly, Bogart and Bacall, Renoir, Arletty, Howard Hawks, Cayatte, Maria Montez, Danny Kaye, Gregory Peck. Marilyn Monroe, Shirley MacLaine and Frank Sinatra, Cukor, de Broca, John Wayne, Belmondo and Louis de Funès… quite a gallery!

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