Audrey Hepburn shines once again as she pursued by both William Holden and Humphrey Bogart. Billy Wilder knows how to serve up this delicious comedy and his stars only aid in the merriment. This new special edition also adds some new special features to sparkle with.
The Larrabee family is rich, but what’s better than being rich? Being even richer and to that end playboy David Larrabee (William Holden) is marrying a heiress (Martha Hyer) that will ensure a business deal.
His officious brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) is delighted at the imminent financial nuptials. That’s when Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) returns to their lives. She’s the daughter of Thomas (John Williams), the family chauffer, and has always had a crush on the dashing David.
Since she was a servant’s daughter she was never in his wolfish sites. However, she’s now returned from a culinary school in Paris and is quite the lady (as was Hepburn) and now the financial engagement is in jeopardy when David gets an eyeful of her now.
Linus steps in to try and draw Sabrina away from David, but finds that he might get more than he bargained for.
Sabrina follows Roman Holiday in the filmography of Audrey Hepburn. She was well on her way to stardom and Sabrina only cements her status. It would lead to another Oscar nod, but she wouldn’t win this time around.
She’s give ample support from Bogie and Holden as well as a selection of character actors (detailed in one of the special features). Supposedly Cary Grant was in line for Bogie’s role but turned it down. I bet he regretted it (more than likely since he starred with Hepburn in Charade to great effect) and in some ways Bogie seems to be aware that he was a last minute replacement.
Sabrina is helmed by the wunderkind Billy Wilder and it’s a bubbly comedic romp worth of the master. Not to go into too much behind-the-scenes rumor mongering but Bogie wasn’t too happy with the role and Hepburn and Holden were an item. Whatever was happening behind the camera the results was a wonderful film that well worthy of the Centennial treatment that Paramount is vamping up.
Sabrina is presented in fullscreen. Disc one contains the film and disc two contains the special features. Disc two starts with the 17 minute “Audrey Hepburn: Fashion Icon” that looks at the fashions that Hepburn wore and made into phenomenon’s. The 11 minute “Sabrina’s World” profiles the swank geographical setting, the Gold Coast area of Long Island, of the film.
The 16 minute “Supporting Sabrina” looks at the host of character actors who fill roles in the film. The 30 minute “William Holden: the Paramount Years” highlights the films the actor made for the studio. The 11 minute “Audrey Hepburn: In Her Own Words” is more about the making of the film than Hepburn.
The 5 minute “Behind the Gates: Camera” profiles movie cameras. The 9 minute “Paramount in the 50s” covers the studio’s hits during this decade (and appears on all the Centennial discs) as well as photo galleries and a booklet.
Sabrina is a delightful film and features some great performances. The film only cemented the world’s love of Audrey Hepburn and this special edition does so as well.
Sabrina - The Centennial Collection is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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