Sabrina Fair? No, Sabrina Excellent! (Sabrina (DVD))

Member Name: karenuk

Product:	Sabrina (DVD)
Date:	07/04/07 (169 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entertaining, excellent cast

Disadvantages: Not everyone's thing

I have liked Audrey Hepburn since I first saw her in My Fair Lady, when I was a child. Then a year or so ago, I bought a DVD boxset of five of her films, but only got round to watching the first one – Sabrina.

(NOTE: Sabrina is known as Sabrina Fair in the UK, but as my copy says Sabrina, I will refer to it as that throughout.)

Sabrina was released in 1954 and stars Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden. It is in black and white, rated U and is 109 minutes long. The film received six Oscar nominations, but won only one for costume.

PLOT

The plot is a reworking of the old Cinderella story. Sabrina Fairchild (Hepburn) is the daughter of a chauffeur, Thomas (John Williams) who works for the wealthy Larrabee family. The head of the family is Oliver (Walter Hampden), but the businesses are mainly run by his sons – David (William Holden) and Linus (Humphrey Bogart).

David is the younger son and rarely goes to the office, preferring a life of leisure and pursuing desirable young women. Linus is a workaholic, who barely seems to have a life outside of his office and business interests.

The early part of the film establishes the main characters, as we watch Sabrina hiding in a tree to spy on the lavish parties at the house. She is young, sweet and has a huge crush on David, who barely seems to know she exists.

Sabrina’s father sends her to Paris for a cookery course and while she is away, she grows up a lot. Returning home to the United States two years later, she has had her long hair cut short, has a new inner confidence and is a sophisticated woman. The first person she sees on her return is David – who doesn’t recognise her!

Will they get together, despite the many obstacles in their way?

REVIEW

I loved the film. I found it very easy to get into and enjoyed it all the way through.

The cast is very good throughout, with even those in smaller roles managing to make themselves memorable. The three main actors stand out though, unsurprisingly.

I haven’t previously thought much of Humphrey Bogart. Despite his legendary status, I didn’t enjoy him in Casablanca or The African Queen. But I found him perfect in the role of Linus Larrabee in Sabrina, where he was able to show a softer side.

William Holden portrays David well too. As a philanderer, he is both charming and annoying. The audience can understand Sabrina’s attraction to him, but can see his faults too. This makes the story and the ending (which I’m not giving away!) both believable and satisfying.

Audrey Hepburn displays a distinctive shift between the pre-Paris naïve girl and the post-Paris sophisticated woman. While Audrey could never be described as plain or dowdy, the dull clothes and childish ponytail do a good enough job in setting her initial character. But after Sabrina returns from Paris, Audrey sparkles! Her charisma comes across brilliantly and it is hard to take your eyes off her performance.

The sets are beautiful, with a gorgeous house and swimming pool alongside an array of stunning vintage cars. Some of the scenes appeared to be backdrops rather than actual location filming, but this didn’t detract from my viewing pleasure.

The clothes are lovely too, especially the ones worn by Sabrina post-Paris, which were designed by the famous Givenchy. This began a long partnership between Hepburn and the designer and is one of the reasons Audrey is still considered a fashion icon even now.

I watched this with my ten year old daughter. She loves films, but has only just accepted that black and white films ARE worth watching after all. Despite Sabrina being reasonably slow paced compared to modern films, it still held her interest throughout – so much so that I had to pause it for toilet breaks.

She was also interested in Audrey Hepburn and wanted to know who she was and if she was still alive today. Luckily, I had an Audrey biography to hand, which fulfilled her curiosity. When asked what she thought of the film, she said it was “brilliant!” High praise indeed from an age that is notoriously hard to please!

As for this thirty seven year old, I loved it too. It is a warm story with endearing characters and excellent acting. Both my daughter and I would definitely recommend it.

EXTRAS

The DVD version I own of Sabrina is part of the five film boxset (see below for details). The extras are a photo gallery and a documentary. The photos are worth seeing and are a selection of the cast, both publicity stills and behind-the-scenes shots.

The documentary has a very annoying voiceover, but otherwise it is interesting and I enjoyed watching it. I was especially fascinated to see the vintage footage of Audrey Hepburn at an awards ceremony, and talking about her role in the play Ondine with her future husband Mel Ferrer. There is also some footage of Humphrey Bogart with Lauren Bacall.

PRICE

Sabrina is available as a single DVD for £5.97 from Amazon. It is also part of the Audrey Hepburn Collection Box Set. This contains five films on DVD (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sabrina, Funny Face, Paris When it Sizzles and Roman Holiday) and currently sells for £42.48 from Amazon. I bought mine from Ebay though for around half price.

Summary: An early example of Audrey Hepburn's magic