Sabrina (1954 film)

Sabrina
Film poster
Directed by	Billy Wilder
Produced by	Billy Wilder
Written by	Samuel A. Taylor (play Sabrina Fair) Billy Wilder Ernest Lehman
Starring	Humphrey Bogart Audrey Hepburn William Holden
Music by	Frederick Hollander
Cinematography	Charles Lang
Editing by	Arthur P. Schmidt
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	September 9, 1954 (London premiere)
Running time	113 min
Country	United States
Language	English

Sabrina is a 1954 comedy-romance film directed by Billy Wilder, adapted for the screen by Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor, and Ernest Lehman from Taylor's play Sabrina Fair (in the UK, the movie has the title Sabrina Fair). It stars Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, and William Holden. This was Wilder's last film released by Paramount Pictures, ending a 12-year relation with Wilder and the company.

In 2002, Sabrina was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^{[citation needed]}

Plot

Sabrina Fairchild (Hepburn) is the young daughter of the Larrabee family's chauffeur, Thomas (John Williams), and has been in love with David Larrabee (Holden) all her life. David is an oft-married, idle playboy, crazy for women, who has never noticed Sabrina, much to her and the staff's dismay. Sabrina then attends culinary school in Paris and returns as an attractive and sophisticated woman.

Hepburn sings "La vie en rose" (French for "Life in Pink" a reference to seeing the world through rose-colored glasses), the signature song of French singer Édith Piaf — which had been highly popular in the English-speaking world as well as in France, since Piaf came out with it in 1946. The occasion for Hepburn to sing it is at the episode of Sabrina's return from Paris, when she is far more assertive than before setting out, and her life does turn rosier.

David, after initially not recognizing her, is quickly drawn to her. David's workaholic older brother Linus (Bogart) sees this and fears that David's imminent wedding with a very rich woman may be endangered. If the wedding were to be canceled, so would a great corporate deal with the bride's family. So Linus tries to redirect Sabrina's affections, and in the process falls in love with her.

At the end Sabrina sets off for Paris on a boat, after Linus has told her to leave and never come back. In a board meeting, realizing his mistake, he manages to get on the boat, and the couple sails away together to Paris.

Production

Cary Grant was initially considered for the role of Linus but declined, and the role was taken by Bogart.

During production of the film, Hepburn and Holden entered into a brief but passionate, and much-publicized, love affair. Bogart, meanwhile, complained that Hepburn required too many takes to get her dialogue right and pointed out her inexperience. However, his behavior towards Hepburn was better than his behavior towards other members of the cast and crew.^{[citation needed]}

Bogart was very unhappy during the filming, convinced that he was totally wrong for this kind of film, mad at not being Wilder's first choice, and not liking Holden or Wilder. But Wilder's offbeat casting produced one of his best and most celebrated performances. Bogart later apologized to Wilder for his behavior on-set, citing problems in his personal life.^{[citation needed]}

Although Edith Head won an Oscar for Best Costumes, most of Hepburn's outfits are rumored to have been created by Hubert de Givenchy and chosen personally by the star. Edith Head, as the film's official costume designer, was given credit for the costumes, although the Academy's votes were obviously for Hepburn's attire. Edith Head did not refuse the Oscar. In a 1974 interview, Head stated that she was responsible for creating the dresses, with inspiration from some Givenchy designs that Hepburn liked, but that she made important changes, and the dresses were not by Givenchy. After Head's death, Givenchy stated that Sabrina's iconic black cocktail dress was produced at Paramount under Head's supervision, but claimed it was his design.

The film began a life-long association between Givenchy and Hepburn (it has been reported that when Hepburn called on Givenchy for the first time in Paris, he assumed that it was Katharine Hepburn in his salon.)

Awards

Wins:

• Academy Award for Best Costume Design - Edith Head

Nominations:

• Academy Award for Best Director - Billy Wilder
• Academy Award for Best Actress - Audrey Hepburn
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Black-and-White) - (Art Direction) Hal Pereira and Walter Tyler; (Set Decoration) Sam Comer and Ray Moyer
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) - Charles Lang, Jr.
• Best Story and Screenplay - Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman

Remakes

In 1995, a remake of Sabrina was produced, starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond and Greg Kinnear in the roles originally played by Bogart, Hepburn and Holden respectively.

It also served as the inspiration for the Hindi movie Yeh Dillagi, starring Akshay Kumar (1994). While there are changes to the plot, it was a considerable success at the box office. It also boosted the careers of Akshay Kumar and Kajol, both of whom got best actor nominations at the Filmfare Awards for their performances.

Further reading

• Shaw, Mark; Juliet Cuming, David Taylor (2009-04-14). Charmed by Audrey: Life on the Set of Sabrina. San Rafael, CA: Insight Editions. ISBN 978-1933784878.  (Candid photographs of Audrey, on and off the set, taken by Mark Shaw for LIFE magazine during production of the film.)
• Shaw, Mark (photographer) (1953-12-07). "Audrey Hepburn, Many-sided Charmer". LIFE (Time, Inc.) 35 (23): 127–135. http://books.google.com/books?id=O0kEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA127&dq=%22mark+shaw%22+hepburn&lr=&as_pt=MAGAZINES&cd=1#v=onepage&q=%22mark%20shaw%22%20hepburn&f=false.  (LIFE article on Audrey including some of the photos from the Sabrina set.)

External links

• Sabrina at the Internet Movie Database
• Sabrina at AllRovi
• Reel Classics page includes a "Sabrina" poster and Hepburn's photo from the film