This week I went to our local cinema for a one off screening of this 1961 classic film. I had forgotten how good the film is. It helps that it was on the big screen, tv takes away the grandeur from films I think. My highlights were New York in the 60's, the elegant Givenchy couture, George Peppard's blue eyes (maybe they were digitally enhanced in the version I saw this week..?), and of course the unique Audrey Hepburn. But one thing shocked me after such a long absence away, how thin Audrey was. I doubt she ate pastries like the one she is eating when the opening credits roll, very often. Her waist was tiny. But it did make the outfits look great - tightly belted macs, shift dresses and capri pants don't look good if you're carrying too many pounds round the middle.
I have read that Truman Capote who wrote the original novella wanted Marilyn Monroe to play the title role, but she turned it down due to it being the part of a prostitute. Marilyn would have played it differently for sure, but I think it was Audrey's innate elegance and purity that ensures the seedy side of her life is dismissed by the viewer as a bad habit, not a bad character.
My next film to rediscover is Hud. Seeing Patricia Neal playing George Peppards 'sugar mummy' in the film has made me want to rewatch her in this Paul Newman classic.
| Etsy BeauBazaar |
Audrey Hepburn was just so beautiful wasn't she? I also loved Marilyn Monroe, but having seen AH in this film, can't now imagine it with anyone else, let alone MM.
ReplyDeleteSo agree Maggie, she really put her stamp on it.
ReplyDeleteLiving in the occupied Netherlands in the war, she was often really hungry and bore the traces of clinical malnutrition. It was one reason she became an actress not a dancer, which she could have been, she was said to be one of the most promising of her generation, but she was actually too frail, her bones not strong enough.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of glossed over in the film, that she is really a prostitute, isn't it? I can't imagine MM being able to give the character that sharp, slightly feral edge. I'd love to see the film on the big screen.
Wow Lucy, I didn't know that about AH's early life, that is tragic. I knew they were starving in the Netherlands, cut off from the supply lines by the Nazis, didn't know AH was there at the time. Need to find a book now....
ReplyDeleteAgree about MM too, there was something vulnerable about her but not sure her acting skills would have made the part such a memorable one.