Roman Holiday is the delightful yet bittersweet tale of two lovers who teach us that duty and honor are to be valued above our own personal desires. The story centers around young Princess Anne (Audrey Hepburn in her American screen debut), who is unhappy with the stressful and overly structured life of a princess. While on a tour in Rome, she runs away and is discovered on the streets by an enterprising newspaperman, Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck). Bradley discovers the princess’s true identity and pretends not to recognize her. The two spend a happy, fun-filled day in Rome as the princess gets a taste for life outside the palace walls. Bradley meanwhile plans his sensational story on the princess, until they begin to fall in love. As the princess realizes she must make the difficult choice between her duty and love, Bradley wrestles between publishing the story or suppressing it out of love for Anne. The theme of the simultaneous joys and difficulties of young love runs throughout the film and contributes to the overall theme of balancing love and pleasure with responsibility.

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