Cheerfully charming romantic comedy in which reporter Gregory Peck falls for a slumming princess, Audrey Hepburn. Bagged four Oscars, including one for Hepburn in her first major role The picture that effectively introduced the world to Audrey Hepburn, this is feelgood fare of the first order driven by good old-fashioned star power. Hepburn is the poised but pampered princess on holiday in Rome. Weary of her official duties, she bunks off and ends up in the arms of fast-talking newspaperman Joe Bradley (Peck).

Hepburn‘s performance still looks brilliantly fresh and she gets surprising comic mileage out of her girlish innocent abroad act. As the affair gathers momentum, an initially prickly Peck puts professional considerations aside and allows himself to be won over by her relentlessly cute allure. Their romance is played out against the sights and sounds of a beautifully shot Rome, and in one of the many memorable moments the couple visit the Mouth of Truth, where an ad-libbing Peck pretends to have his hand bitten off. The focus rarely moves away from the stars, but Eddie Albert proves a great comic foil as a highly strung bohemian photographer.

Nominated for 10 Oscars, not even a teary conclusion can lessen the appeal of this unfailingly lovely fairy tale.