In Billy Wilder’s comic fairy tale, the wealthy Larrabee brothers couldn’t be more different. The older one, Linus, is all business, while the younger, David, is a womanizing playboy. David (William Holden) finally does agree to settle down and marry an heiress, whose family Linus is courting for a business merger. But then, Sabrina, the Larrabee chauffeur’s once-mousy daughter, resurfaces as Audrey Hepburn, and David is smitten. It’s up to Linus, of all people, to woo her away and then break her heart, but since Linus is played by Humphrey Bogart, he’s surprisingly good at that sort of thing. But Linus doesn’t count on actually falling for Sabrina himself.
The rivalry between Bogart and Holden was real. Bogart came to the set already resentful; he knew he was Wilder’s second choice (first choice: Cary Grant). He didn’t get along with Wilder, who alienated him by not inviting him to have cocktails with Holden and Hepburn in Holden’s trailer. Meanwhile, Hepburn and the married Holden really did have an affair, one that ended once the shoot did. Thanks to Wilder’s light touch, none of the off-camera drama prevented the movie from becoming a sweet, frothy confection. (Avoid the 1995 remake, where the contrast between the effervescent Greg Kinnear and the lugubrious Harrison Ford makes the latter’s charms much less apparent.)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg-baYLXfxU]