Free Great Movies Review
Charade (1963) is a mashup of a screwball romantic comedy and a Hitchcockian thriller, and the results are not very suspenseful or funny. Reggie Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) is vacationing in the French Alps when her husband is murdered. In Paris, she connects with Peter Joshua (Cary Grant), who seems to want to help her escape the same fate. Walter Matthau plays a CIA operative who warns her about Cary Grant and other dangers. Old war buddies of Mr. Lambert, played by James Coburn, George Kennedy, and Ned Glass, all attend his funeral and are in search of the money he left behind. In this screenplay, life and death and love and money all seem frivolous, so despite all the double-crossing, there isn't much at stake. Known mostly for his musicals, director Stanley Donen doesn't have the quick comedic timing of Billy Wilder, nor the suspenseful visual skills of Hitchcock. It's a shame Cary Grant turned down Sabrina (1954) and Love in the Afternoon (1957), because by 1963 he does seem a little old to be pursued by Audrey Hepburn. The film is colorful in its Parisian setting with wonderful costumes by Givenchy. It has an exciting opening credit sequence over Henry Mancini's main title, and the twisty ending is fun. But there is only one Alfred Hitchcock and any of his masterpieces at this time are superior to Charade (1963).
Movie Description
Charade is a 1963 Technicolor American romantic comedy/mystery film directed by Stanley Donen, written by Peter Stone and Marc Behm, and starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. The cast also features Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Dominique Minot, Ned Glass, and Jacques Marin. It spans three genres: suspense thriller, romance and comedy. Because Universal Pictures published the movie with an invalid copyright notice, the film entered the public domain in the United States immediately upon its release.
The film is notable for its screenplay, especially the repartee between Grant and Hepburn, for having been filmed on location in Paris, for Henry Mancini's score and theme song, and for the animated titles by Maurice Binder. Charade has received generally positive reviews from critics, and was additionally noted to contain influences of genres such as whodunit, screwball and spy thriller; it has also been referred to as "the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made," as he never made a screwball thriller.
(Summary from Wikipedia)
Copyright Info: This movie is in the public domain and is legally available for free on YouTube.