Sabrina

This was the last film Billy Wilder released through Paramount, ending a 12 year relationship. He began shooting without a finished script: Ernest Lehman finished scenes in the morning, handed them over at lunch and watched them shot that afternoon. Cary Grant was considered for Linus and passed, so the part went to Humphrey Bogart, cast against the tough detectives he was known for. Bogart had wanted his wife Lauren Bacall as Sabrina. The film drew 6 Oscar nominations and converted one: costume design, black and white, for Edith Head. Who earned it is still argued. In a 1974 interview Head said the dresses were hers, inspired by Givenchy designs Audrey Hepburn liked but importantly changed. After Head died, Givenchy said the black cocktail dress was made at Paramount under her supervision but the design was his. The Larrabee mansion is not on Long Island; those exteriors are Hill Grove, Beverly Hills. Britain got the film as Sabrina Fair, still its BBFC title, where the advice runs only to mild comic violence and very mild language. A good fit if the romance is carried by the brother doing the arithmetic, not the one in love. Not for anyone wanting Sabrina to own the decisions waiting after Paris; much of the plot turns on a merger the brothers protect.