Sabrina (1954)

A very nice movie if you can get around the plot holes.You have to get around the idea that Sabrina falls out of love with David (who she has had a crush on for years) and into love with Linus in three days.Sabrina is flying back from France and taking Long Island Railroad (LIRR) to the Glen Cove station where she meets David by accident. But the LIRR didn't service Idlewild Airport (now JFK Airport). in 1954 (and still doesn't), You would have to take a bus or taxi (today a subway) to a LIRR station and then change. Also LIRR is a commuter rail (basically just an above ground subway), not an intercity rail line. This isn't practical for a lady with three suitcases and one dog. She would most likely take a taxi all the way home.At the end of the movie, Linus rushes to a tugboat to join Sabrina on the SS Liberte. Problems: Ticket had been changed from Linus' name to David's. Would the ship stop for a late passenger arriving by tugboat? Did Linus have his passport? He had no luggage. He would only have the little cash he was carrying. Except for Diners' Club, charge cards didn't exist.When Linus discussing plans to send Sabrina back to France he points out the Liberte dock (which would have been further north on the west site of Manhattan) from one window. Later in the final boardroom scene, you see the Staten Island Ferry (on the south tip of Manhattan) from another window. But it isn't clear if in the Larrabee building (show as located at 30 Broad St. near NY Stock Exchange) , they could see both the route of the Ferry and the dock for the Liberte , even when using different windows.Also note that in the final boardroom scene, you can see Staten Island Ferry and a large barge moving from left to right. If you watch closely, you will see that the scene is repeated several times.

Feeling like a million bucks; high on life; all of these phrases apply to me whenever I watch the single most underrated film of the 50s: Sabrina. It stars Audrey Hepburn as Sabrina alongside Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, and is directed by Billy Wilder. After seeing these quick facts, it was pretty evident that this movie would be great. But I had no idea that it would be at this almost unreachable level.This was the movie that made me fall in love with Audrey Hepburn. Her father is the chauffeur to the wealthy Larrabee family. She grew up with the hots for the son David (Holden) but he never noticed her. She spends two years in culinary school in Paris and returns home a knockout. I'd say the sole flaw of this movie is Audrey Hepburn is too beautiful for David not to like her back. Her look when she returns is not that much different. But whatever. When she returns, David finally takes notice to her and they start a romance. But he is already engaged to a woman who is right for the family business. But David is a playboy who is a little bit irresponsible. His older brother Linus (Bogart) is a workaholic who happens to also fall for Sabrina soon after. Which brother is right for her? Which one will she pick?Something I love about this film is it actually makes me laugh. I mean actual belly laughs. Maybe not as frequent or intensely as Wilder's Some Like It Hot, but close. And the romance that blossom in the love triangle is so beautiful as we watch the love and characters grow. It honestly doesn't matter who Sabrina ends up with. The movie makes too much love and glory to be disappointed by her decision. Easily one of my ten favourite films of the 1950's.

And, how would I sum up 1954's Sabrina in just one word? - Well - How about the word "YUCK!" - Yeah - "YUCK!" pretty much covers it all for me.Uh.... Please, allow me to elaborate a little bit on Sabrina's yuck-factor for you here.And, it goes like this.... Single parent, Thomas Fairchild, has been a trusted, live-in chauffeur of the super-rich Larrabee family for many years now. Fairchild has a pretty, teenage daughter named Sabrina.The mega-wealthy Larrabees have 2 grown sons. David (the dashing, alcoholic, playboy) is twice Sabrina's age. Linus (the dreary, alcoholic workaholic) is 3 times her age.... At different stages in this film's story both David and Linus go lusting after Sabrina.And, when it comes to Sabrina's integrity - Does her father take a firm stand and adamantly object to the carnal pursuits of these 2 randy rich-brats?.... No. He doesn't.Being obviously more concerned about his job rather than his daughter's virginity - Fairchild tells each of the lusting Larrabee boys that if they are going to pursue Sabrina, then (get this!) kindly do it in a way so that he can turn a blind eye to it.Hello!? - If that kind of scenario isn't total "YUCK!", then I don't know what is!.... Need I say more?

As a fan of Billy Wilder, old movies and this trio of stars, I was looking forward to this. But I feel it's a bit of a letdown. Audrey Hepburn, as usual, is luminous (and she is, as usual, paired off with a suitor far too old for her). But part of the problem is what the story does with her character. She pines away for Holden, and then goes away to cooking school in Paris. Why does she go? Did she want to go? Unknown. While away, she writes her father a letter saying she is over Holden. But then, when she returns, she (in a rather absurd coincidence) runs into him at the train station. The two connect. So she wasn't over him after all? Or was she over him, but then fell back in love when she saw him? What was her plan if she hadn't coincidentally run into him? Who knows? Later, Bogart and Holden sort out which of them gets to "have" her, which is rather sexist and also robs her of her agency. (Surely a charming girl like that must have other options besides a buffoon and an old man.) Holden hasn't been given much of a character to play. He's all charm and nothing else. The script never rounds him out with grace notes that might have helped us to understand why he lives such a vacuous life. As an actor, Holden has consistently shown an ability to locate the darkness buried inside his characters, but he never seems to tap into that quality here. (It might have been interesting if Hepburn, during the course of dating Holden finally realized what a shallow loser he is and dumped him. And then maybe Holden, in turn is forced to reexamine his life. But the story never explores that darker, more interesting possibility. Instead, Hepburn is a pawn in the men's games.) As for Bogart, he was, of course, one of our great stars and did amazing work in dramas and crime stories. But in a light romantic comedy like this, he's very much out of his element, like Holden is. (Bogart took the role after Cary Grant turned it down.) Bogart manages to capture the cold sourness of his character just fine, but he never locates the man's gradual transformation into a guy in love. He never seems interested in Hepburn at all, which is oddly something of an accomplishment, given how beautiful Hepburn is. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that Bogart is too old, unattractive and emotionally cold for Hepburn to ever give him the time of day. When these two would-be lovers are reunited at the very end of the film, they hug rather than kiss. It's as if the filmmakers are acknowledging the absurdity of that these two might actually be right for each other. Or perhaps they know that there's something rather gross about the fifty-ish Bogart kissing the twenty-ish Hepburn.