Sabrina

Three recent Oscar winners and the sure guidance of Wilder helped make this familiar Cinderella story into something more than it might have been under other auspices. Holden was 36 at the time, a bit old for a dissolute playboy. Further, he is eclipsed by Bogart's performance as his older brother, an unaccustomed comedy role that showed Bogie could play for laughs as well as sneers. Wilder had already won an Oscar, and co-author Lehman was to be the recipient of the coveted statuette later, so this was a formidable team. The story isn't much, but it's the treatment and the witty dialogue that set it apart from the ordinary.

Holden and Bogart are the wealthy s...