Customer Reviews

Sabrina (Commemorative Edition) [VHS]

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

My appreciation for this movie has sky-rocketed this last week. I recently watched the new Sabrina with Harrison Ford... it didn't even compare! This version is much much better! I've read the review for this movie... some think Bogart was too old for this movie or that the interplay between Hepburn and Bogart wasn't good. I definitely disagree! The chemistry between Audrey and Bogart is fantastic... the screen just sparks with it! I'm not sure of the behind the screens of this movie... some say that Bogart and Hepburn didn't work well together... all I know is that is produces something between them that is incomparable! Only couples like Cary Grant & Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall & Bogart can produce this much chemistry on the screen!

I love the story of Sabrina...
Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) is the plain looking daughter of a chauffer. She falls in love with the playboy son, David (William Holden), of the wealthy people her father serves. David doesn't notice her... Her father sends her off to a cooking school in Paris and there she becomes transformed into a dazzlingly gorgeous young lady. She comes home stunningly beautiful and catches the eye of the playboy son, David. Linus (Bogart) has worked out a merger with this company and rich family who owns sugarcane plantations. Part of the deal is that David is marrying their daughter. So Linus has to draw Sabrina away from David, because he's already engaged... and Sabrina falls in love with Linus... I won't give the end away... I'll just say it's worth the watch... It leaves you satisfied. Sometimes you watch a movie and at the end you are like... "So?" ... It didn't end well... Well this is not one of those movies! I love this movie to death! The best Actors, music, and chemistry! A definite watch!

And with that dreamy-eyed wonder which so easily danced in Audrey Hepuburn's face, we too, feel compelled to see her win the heart of flighty playboy David...but why is stiff-lipped brother Linus getting in the way?

Director extraordinaire William Wilder gracefully weaves another tale of "ugly duckling morphs into beautiful swan," yet, we don't feel like we've seen it quite like this. The film is charmingly comedic, yet never slapsticky like the recent remake. The production is highly viewable, and the marvelous clothing is eternally stylish on the three leads of Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and William Holden--all of them, Oscar winners, and Hepburn herself a nominee for this performance.

The tale shows a young whippersnapper chauffeur's daughter (Hepburn) hopelessly enamored with the younger son of her father's employer. Charming David (Holden) is a misguided, misdirected, fun-loving playboy who never wants for female attention, and could scarcely give young Sabrina the time of day. In hopes of ending this futile, unrequited love, Sabrina's father sends her to study culinary arts in Paris.

During her tenure at the school, she not only learns how to cook (some funny moments there involving eggs and souffle), but how to be a woman worthy of capturing a man's attention. The new, sophisticated, and sauve Sabrina instantly captures David's attention upon her arrival, but now Linus, the older, settled, finacial wizard brother, is involved in the mix--and his reasons don't quite seem like love...or is it only because he doesn't know how to love?

Who will Sabrina end up with? Will she find joy with either brother? Will she feel she was "reaching for the moon"?

Besides being a story of a young woman's coming of age, the film also shows the class struggle and resentment between the poor and rich. "There is a front seat, a back seat, and a window in between," Sabrina's chauffeur father firmly states. By Sabrina's flirations with the sons, we are left to wonder if she will forever be seen as part of the "hired help", and not a family member.

See this classic, and don't bother to see the remake--it only pales in comparison. You won't even notice the black and white cinematography as all three stars glow so brightly.

Audrey Hepburn won the Best Actress Oscar (1953 for Roman Holiday) the year before. She was Hollywoods newest shining star. Sabrina was specifically for Audrey. Only her second motion picture proved her 5 star box office stardom.

This remastered DVD is from Paramounts "The Audrey Hepburn Collection". If you love the old Hollywood and the "Big Stars" you'll love Sabrina.

Audrey Hepburn (Sabrina)(Oscar winner), William Holden (David Larrabee)(Oscar winner - Stalag 17) & Humphrey Bogart (Linus Larrabee) (Oscar winner - African Queen) were perfectly cast for this timeless romantic comedy classic.

In summary: The fun begins with a chauffers young daughter (Sabrina) who is in love with employer (the Larrabee family) playboy son millionaire David (Holden) who only sees her as a child. She is sent off to Paris to a cooking & fininshing school. Sabrina meets the European rich & famous who refine and add sophistication to the maturing young woman. Upon her return home as a changed mature socialite is swooned by David unknowning it is this young daughter of a servant, Sabrina. Once this is disclosed the real romance begins. Linus (Bogart) the older brother who runs the family business dynasty has pre-arranged a business merger marriage for David. David now loves Sabrina. Linus tries to swoon Sabrina away from David who is now jeopardizing the business merger. Sabrina is still in love with David finds Linus' advances distracting, then charming & eventually a love triangle begins. The rest is history. Especially the happy ending which was the old Hollywood recipe to success.

A great movie, a great performing cast and a delightful Sabrina. Included is a "Sabrina" documentary which adds frosting to the already tasty cake.

You have to be something of a romantic to fully appreciate this remarkable film. It helps a lot to be enchanted with Audrey Hepburn, as most of us are. Her performance as the daughter of a chauffeur who gets to choose between two very rich brothers, David and Linus Larrabee (William Holden and Humphrey Bogart), is subtle, slightly mysterious and delightful. Much of the enchantment of her character is based on things implied rather than things said or acted out. We know that her metamorphous in Paris is guided by the 74-year-old Baron St. Fontanel (Marcel Dalio), whom she meets at cooking school. We can discern that she learned more than how to crack an egg. The transformation of her heart from one brother to the other is revealed primarily in her facial expressions as she measures kisses and the sharp stab of pleasure in the center of her soul. We are kept in limbo about whom she chooses until the very end.

This is a girl's fantasy for grown-ups, and one of the best of its kind. The script, from the play by Samuel A. Taylor, is well-paced and psychologically true in a way that is not immediately obvious. The dialogue, while clearly dated and somewhat pedestrian at times, nonetheless stands up well. The sets are large, very large (director Billy Wilder loved to give us a sense of the vastness of the American corporate empire at mid-century): the Larrabee offices, the garage where Sabrina starts all the cars (I think her father, sleeping overhead really would have awaken instead of just tossing and turning), the family estate with its indoor and outdoor pools and courts. There's some pleasant diversion with old man Larrabee (Walter Hampden) and his huge cigars and olives. (The way Bogie is able to smash the little jar, swoop up the olive and land it in the mouth of the old guy in quick motion was a nice trick that surely wowed them on the set. Did Bogie cut his hand or Hampden swallow some glass?) The servants as Sabrina's cheering section and her father (John Williams) with his very correct class prejudices divert us as well.

As for "old stone face" Bogart being miscast, I don't necessarily agree, but certainly Cary Grant would have been a better match for Miss Hepburn, as we would see in Charade (1963). William Holden, on the other hand (in blond coiffeur), seemed completely at ease in a comedic role. Nonetheless, the cynical edge that lent depth to his character in, e.g., Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17, was entirely absent here. I think a scene in which he sardonically justifies his playboy ways might have fleshed him out more.

As for Miss Hepburn, she was entirely involved, subtle, driven, nearly flawless, warm and winning. She is especially gorgeous in black and white. Bogart didn't particularly care for her, I understand, complaining about the many takes in her scenes with him. But she was nearly an ingenue, in her second important film, and he was, in his fifties, the veteran of many, many movies. Somehow they both overcame the lack of chemistry, and in a way, made their relationship "sensible" rather than heated. I think Wilder didn't mind this because he was aiming at something deeper than "happily ever after."

Of course Wilder employs a voice-over, a kind of Wilder signature, almost a joke, because as usual the device is abandoned before long. However it did allow us to hear Hepburn begin the film with the magical words, "Once upon a time..." as she describes the fairyland of her childhood, the Larrabee estate.

She this for Audrey Hepburn, who occasionally played a teenager in film, but was never one.

I'm commenting on both "Sabrina" and "Sunset Boulevard" Centennial editions because apparently reviews of any particular film - including VHS versions - are being crammed together, and I already wrote a review on a previous DVD edition of "Sunset Boulevard", so I am precluded from writing a second even if it is about a completely different DVD release of that same film.

The movies that Paramount is releasing in its Centennial Collection are classics that are worthwhile to own and the extra features are quite good. However, if you already own Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition) it is not worth replacing it to get the new extra features on the Centennial Collection. There has been no improvement in the transfer that I can identify. The following is the list of features on the new edition of Sunset Boulevard:
Commentary: Commentary by Ed Sikov (author of "On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder") Used on 2002 Release
* Sunset Boulevard: The Beginning (22:46) New
* The Noir Side of Sunset Boulevard by Joseph Wambaugh (14:20) New
* Sunset Boulevard Becomes a Classic (14:29) New
* Two Sides of Ms. Swanson (10:32) New
* Stories of Sunset Boulevard (11:17) New
* Mad About the Boy: A Portrait of William Holden (11:15) New
* Recording Sunset Boulevard (5:48) New
* The City of Sunset Boulevard (5:32) New
* Morgue Prologue Script Pages Used on 2002 Release
* Franz Waxman and The Music of Sunset Boulevard (14:25) Used on 2002 Release
* Behind the Gates: The Lot (5:03) New
* Hollywood Location Map Used on 2002 Release
* Paramount in the '50s (9:32) Used on previous releases (use "Paramount in the '50s - Retrospective Featurette" on packaging)
* Edith Head - The Paramount Years Featurette (13:42) - Used in 2002
* Original Theatrical Trailer (3:12) Used on 2002 Release
* Galleries

This new release of Sabrina comes without a commentary track, just like the 2001 release, Sabrina. The following are the extra features on the new Centennial release of Sabrina:
* Audrey Hepburn: Fashion Icon (17:32) New
* Sabrina's World (11:25) New
* Supporting Sabrina (16:32) New
* William Holden: The Paramount Years (29:46) New
* Sabrina Documentary (11:40) Used on 2001 release
* Behind the Gates: Camera (5:07) New
* Paramount in the '50s (9:32) Used on previous releases
* Galleries
I didn't think that the new documentaries and featurettes added much to this release, but I do commend Paramount for not putting "William Holden" The Paramount Years" on both Sabrina and Sunset Boulevard, which they could have done. After all, Universal puts their "Universal Horror" documentary on every single 75th Anniversary Edition of their 30's horror films. I own three or four copies of the thing by now. Again, I couldn't see any real improvement in the video between the two releases of Sabrina, so that's not a reason to upgrade either.

To summarize, if you don't have either one of these films, buy the Centennial versions. If you do own them, don't bother to upgrade. These are essential classic films by one of the greatest film directors of all time, Billy Wilder, who never really had an identifiable style. He just made a large number of diverse films that happened to be great. He even has me believing Humphrey Bogart could be the level-headed businessman in "Sabrina", which considering my steady diet of Warner Bros. gangster films was quite a task.

Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, & William Holden you couldn't ask for a better cast. Hepurn gives one of the best performances of her career & Bogart & Holden give suberb performances as the Larrabee brothers.

This Cinderella type story is about Sabrina a chaeffer's daughter who apperantly falls for her father's employer's son, David. David is a playboy, reckless, wild, & handsome, he takes no notice of Sabrina & breaks her heart one evening when she sees him dancing with another girl. Sabrina decides to commit suicide by closing the garage doors, turning on all the cars & letting the carbon monoxide kill her. Luckily, the eldest Larrabee brother, Linus comes along to save her.

She is sent to France the next morning for cooking school, & while she's their David is engaged, so that Linus can make a profit with his new invention. When Sabrina returns grown up & sophistacated both Linus & David fall for her, which causes some hilarious effects. The film is a great classic, perfect for your collection.

This delightful, poignant comic romance showcases Hepburn at her waiflike best and Bogart as his usual masterful self. Sabrina, the beautiful daughter of a chauffeur, is fresh home from Paris and eager to ensnare the engaged playboy, David. With goofy abandon, David reciprocates her affections and is willing to mess up his family's fortunes in the process. Enter his Machiavellian brother Linus (Bogart), who coldly and calculatingly woos Sabrina himself in order to get her out of the way. But can his cold heart be truly immune? The cinematography, dialogue, and directing are expert in this classic, which takes a light farce and gives it believable weight as a deeper romance full of moral dilemma. Sabrina's growth from impulsive girl into a more understanding woman is brilliant. They don't make many movies like this any more, relying on the script and the actors to create the atmosphere superbly.

How can you not love Audrey Hepburn? With her kindness, her fresh beauty... Not only she was a great actress but also a great humanitarian, and that's why I love her and can't get tired of seeing all of her films again and again. "Sabrina" is just as delightful as Audrey, and if you like romance-comedies you'll love this one! I'm specially fond of the part when she sings "La vie en rose" to Humphrey Bogart. Really charming! She can truly captivate you and brighten up your screen. And Billy Wilder's direction is perfect as always. So if you're either a Audrey Hepburn or a Billy Wilder fan, you can't miss this one out. Let's put it this way: if you don't have it, buy it now! You won't regret it!

It almost begins like a fairy tale, how once upon a time, on the north shore of Long Island, some 30 miles from New York, there lived a small girl on a large estate. So goes the opening narration by Audrey Hepburn, which sets the story in motion and introduces the Larrabee estate and family, also goes on to describe an English chauffeur named Fairchild and his daughter, Sabrina, played of course by Hepburn, in this romantic comedy based on Samuel Taylor's play Sabrina Fair.

Sabrina's sent to a cooking school in Paris, which not only prepares her for a vocation, but to help her get over her crush over David Larrabee (William Holden), the dashing playboy who spent short periods at many colleges and even shorter periods with his three wives (consecutive, of course). Ironic, considering that Holden had a crush on Hepburn, which led to a brief affair, and for him, a torch he carried through the rest of his life. The advice she gets is "don't reach for the moon." The thing is, she's the last of the romantics, "l'amour toujours" as described by Linus Larrabee, the business brains behind the multimillion Larrabee holdings, which include land and water, copper, construction, and now, a new kind of plastic that's resilient and tastes sweet(!!)

After two years in Paris, she is a vision of beauty, chic, with a new haircut, and transformed, yet still the romantic, as she vows to be in the world and of the world, and "never ever run away from life, or from love either."

Linus plans to marry David off to Elizabeth Tyson, whose father owns the second largest sugar cane in Puerto Rico, the ceremonial part of a $20 million merger with Tyson. This is put in jeopardy with Sabrina's return, and David, who previously ignored her, is bedazzled. Yet Sabrina, who's reluctantly wooed by Linus to salvage the deal, finds out there's more to him than just the "cold businessman...with ice in his veins, ticker tape coming from his heart." She finds out he's nice and quite human.

"Remember, it's the 20th century" is a reminder that the Victorian days of knowing one's place is gone. Fairchild sees life as a limousine: "there's a front seat, there's a back seat, and a window inbetween." He later says "Nobody poor was called democratic for marrying someone rich." Mother and Father Larrabee believe that, as they are scandalized at David's affections towards Sabrina, and see her in terms of class status.

Other great scenes include the cooking school, but the party scene when Sabrina appears in her bare-shouldered white dress and becomes the belle of the ball dancing with David, shows her at her most radiant and resplendent.

Humphrey Bogart is great as Linus, scheduled, sensible, loyal, observant, honest, and yet with a softer side. John Williams is perfect as Tom Fairchild. And Jenny the maid is played by Nancy Kulp, best known as Ms. Hathaway in the Beverly Hillbillies TV series. But Francis X. Bushman as old Mr. Larrabee has some funny moments with a penchant for martinis and cigars (whenever his wife's not around). Hepburn would be reunited with director Billy Wilder in Love In The Afternoon.

However, Sabrina also sees birth of a long-time association between Audrey and a certain Hubert de Givenchy, who did her costumes for many of her films. No Oscar for Hepburn, though she was nominated, but this film got me on my Hepburn kick back in the 90's, and is especially wonderful for those living "la vie en rose" as Sabrina does. To conclude, forget the 1995 remake--watch the original instead.

Long admired as one of the film business' most mordant wits, Billy Wilder has only recently been given his full honors as one of the great directors, fully on par with Ford, Hitchcock, De Sica, etc - even noted dissenter Andrew Sarris has finally come around. It's as if his track record was working against him all these years: anyone who could make as many smart, sarcastic, deeply felt and compulsively watchable movies as Wilder has in one career MUST be a clever fraud. But Wilder was one of a small handful of Hollywood moviemakers who constantly pushed the boundaries of the Production Code, nearly always leaving the bar raised a little higher in his wake with each project...for which all of us in the audience (minus a few blue-haired biddies) must be grateful. Even a slightly flat souffle like SABRINA benefits from his presumption of the audience's intelligence: like all his work of this period, SABRINA is a movie for adults - although there are too many out there who assume this precludes idealism, romantic longing and fairy-tale fade-outs. Audrey Hepburn is extremely affecting in the lead role; already a star, her performance as the butterfly gamine Sabrina might be her finest. Bogart (hardly Wilder's favorite actor by a long shot) is miscast, not for his age - he's, after all, playing a man who is far too old to be romancing this girl - but his obvious antipathy for Hepburn (his famous quote on his co-star: "She's all right, if you don't mind a dozen takes") is a hurdle not even Wilder can overcome, yet this flaw is nearly offset by another great performance by William Holden, Wilder's lucky charm. Wilder consistently gave Holden the kind of roles that allowed him the kind of acerbic, straightforward wit & intelligence Bogart himself had made his bones with a decade earlier, with the added dimension of youthful virility and good looks. As a result, Holden became not just a huge star, but one with an undercurrent of integrity that served him beautifully in later films like THE WILD BUNCH. The 50s didn't yield very many brand-name marquee toppers of Holden's quality - Robert Ryan comes to mind, and Sterling Hayden showed flashes of it - and, if nothing else, SABRINA showed audiences that the Holden of SUNSET BLVD and STALAG 17 was also an accomplished comic actor, who nearly walks off with the picture. While it's true that SABRINA, for all its charm, is an overall disappointment from Wilder (it comes off a bit like Lubitsch-vinaigrette), take it in context: if this very entertaining comedy represents a failure for Wilder, imagine how good his triumphs are.