Sabrina (1954)/Sabrina (1995)

NR/ PG	Rottentomatoes.com Rating: 93%/59%	1954 /1995
(Brief, very mild language)	Picky Flicks Quote: "A frothy delight." -Michael Dequina, Mr. Brown's Movies	RUNTIME: 1 hr. 56 mins./2 hrs. 8 mins.
Visit:www.screenit.com for complete details		Movie Mood: Starry-eyed

This is my first attempt at a side-by-side review. In other words, I am recommending the same movie twice, just in two different versions, spaced a mere forty-one years apart (Why not forty, or fifty even? Where was the “even numbers” spirit, I ask you?) Old Sabrina boasts a combination of two of the greatest movie stars of all time: the iconic Audrey Hepburn and the laconic Humphrey Bogart, and it is enchanting. New Sabrina has slightly lower star wattage, with Julia Ormond (if you just said, “Who?” I wouldn’t be surprised) and Harrison Ford attempting to fill some rather roomy shoes.

Let’s be honest here, folks, and acknowledge the fact that any remake of a movie starring the glowing Miss Hepburn is probably a mistake. She’s just too well-known and lovely to replicate. But I will say—to Miss Ormond’s credit—that she makes no attempt at mimicry. She neither looks nor acts like Audrey Hepburn but still manages to give a convincing turn as the ugly wallflower who blossoms into a beautiful rose right under her secret crush’s nose. In fact, in each movie, the female leads are the best things about their respective versions of the film.

In Old Sabrina, Audrey Hepburn transforms from a waifish, wispy teen into a still waifish (let’s face it; that woman needed to eat a cookie!), self-assured, elegant adult. Julia Ormond would and could never be described as waifish. Her turn is much gawkier and involves quite a bit more frizz, but the wide-eyed appeal is the same. Her self-assured transformation is less elegant and more amused at the turn of events that leads her right back into the path of David (William Holden and Greg Kinnear), her childhood love who never knew she existed until she got that famous haircut (Ladies, never doubt the power of a really good bob).

The men in both films fair slightly to considerably worse than the ladies, but that’s okay because, after all, the movie is called Sabrina, and it’s all about Sabrina. In both versions, Sabrina is lovingly nudged from her nest (spying tree, actually) and off to Paris to pursue a career as…well, anything other than the full-time chairwoman of the David Larabee Fan Club. At first, she resists and doesn’t fair well, since so much of her time is spent pining for David that she fails to recognize the beauty of the City of Lights.

Finally, though, she has a breakthrough and learns to be happy and secure within herself. Frankly, I think it’s the haircut. The moment the weight comes off her head, it’s as if her brain starts functioning again, and she’s a whole new person. THE END.

Okay, not quite. Sabrina comes back to the Larabee estate, eager to see her father, the chauffeur (of course; they’re English), and all of her old chums who comprise “the help.” By a teensy little coincidence, David just happens by in time to notice a strikingly alluring woman in need of a lift, and suddenly Sabrina’s a little girl again, longing for even a glance from the dashingly handsome, womanizing, irresponsible younger half of the Larabee fortune heirs. She gets her glance and then some because David doesn’t recognize her at all. All he sees is creamy skin, dark hair and red lips. Both Miss Hepburn and Miss Ormond are quite breathtaking.

Conflict arises when David, who has a doting fiancée (from a wealthy family), decides he is so taken with Sabrina that he’s willing to ruin a perfectly wonderful, lucrative “family merger,” throw caution to the moody east coast breezes, and run away with Sabrina instead. You’d think she’d know better after watching him woo and then discard a dozen women from afar, but apparently the lightening of the hair-load wasn’t enough because Sabrina’s just as smitten as ever.

Cue Linus (yes, as in the blanket-sucking Charlie Brown character), the ultra-dependable, stoic older brother. He’s determined to make sure the merger, er, marriage happens, and he’ll do anything—even go on a date with a pretty girl!—to clinch the deal. Both Humphrey Bogart and Harrison Ford are too old for their respective Sabrinas and so stiff that it’s hard to imagine any girl so lively and comely as Sabrina having anything to do with them, much less falling in love with them. But fall in love she does. Now what’s a girl to do?

The ultra-romantic ending is less than a shocker but still crowd-pleasing to be sure. And while the dialogue in the original sparkles considerably more than in the update, each film has its own charms (Linus's secretary in the 1995 version has a great line which, believe it or not, includes the words "like touching the Shroud of Turin" and makes it even better with flawless delivery; the movie is watching for that line alone, and I howl every time). An improvement on a classic the New Sabrina is not, but neither is it ain't half bad either. And it proves one thing. Fifty years later, Paris is still the most romantic city on earth.

Until next Wednesday, stay picky! Your mind will thank you later.