Thursday, April 28, 2011

Oh Sabrina, Sabrina, where have you been all my life?

In 1954 Paramount Pictures released one of the biggest hits of the year, Sabrina. Starring Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, and Audrey Hepburn, this film could do no wrong.



Audrey is Sabrina who lives here



Well, not exactly here, but above the garage, as her dad is the chauffeur to the rich Larabee's. Mom and Pop, grumpy old brother Linus (Bogart) and playboy David (Holden). Sabrina has a thing for David and watches him from a tree.




They grew up together but David just wants dizzy rich girls. Audrey is depressed and decides to go to Paris for cooking school.




After a shaky start her talents start to shine at cooking and she  befriends an old Baron who teaches her about fashion and art. When she comes  back she is a new woman and wants to take a stab at David. He inadvertently picks her up from the train station but can't figure out who she is. (He is so good looking he doesn't have to be smart).



He only learns who she is when they pull into their driveway and her father greats her. Duh. He is so smitten he invites her to a ball, the same one she would stalk him from  while in the tree. 



The date goes well and Sabrina looks fabulous, but David forgets he is engaged (again) to this one.


She is from a rich family that benefits the Larabee company, but David is crazy about Sabrina. Grumpy brother and father Larabee get together and decide to get Sabrina away from David by having Linus make her fall in love with him. At first she isn't buying it.




Linus wants to ship her back to Paris for good and get David to marry the rich broad. After a while, Sabrina starts to dig Linus. But she finds out it was just a set up and feels betrayed.





The plan is in full affect despite the fact that Sabrina knows and Linus tells David the plan too. Linus has to think long and hard about his decision and what to do about Sabrina now that he thinks he wants her too. But what about the company?





Everything about this film is divine. The music, the costumes, the settings. Humphrey wanted his honey, Lauren, to play Sabrina and was mad when they gave it to Audrey. He said he never liked working with her and that she couldn't act (sheesh!). He also didn't get along with Bill Holden. Billy Wilder was writing the script during production and once had Audrey pretend to fall ill so that he could stall and finish the day's work.

2 comments:

Madeleine said...

My love for this film knows no bounds. It is just perfect and no one can ever tell me otherwise. This is honestly one of my favourite films ever. It's so sad Humphrey Bogart didn't like Audrey, they work so well together! I have only seen Lauren Bacall in one movie, not even one of the famous ones, and I can't imagine her in the role.

Great post! I've said this in every comment so far on this blog, but I love your posts!

~Bette

P.S. Sabrina is one of my favourite names along with Herbie. Call me weird if you want to :-)

Emily Hernandez said...

I am glad I am not the only one who loves this film! I watch it all the time and get happy when the music gets stuck in my head. And no, you're not weird :)