Charade - Letterbox Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #57) | Grégoire Aslan, Paul Bonifas

Charade - Letterbox Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #57) | Grégoire Aslan, Paul Bonifas | Charade

DVDs:

Charade - Letterbo...

	Charade - Letterbox Edition (Criterion Collection Spine #57) Grégoire Aslan, Paul Bonifas Criterion, 2004 average customer review:based on 253 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A young American in Paris (Audrey Hepburn) flees a trio of crooks, who are trying to recover the fortune her late husband stole from them. The only person she can trust is a suave stranger (Cary Grant). A deliciously dark comedic thriller, Stanley Donen's Charade dazzles with style and macabre wit to spare. Criterion is proud to present this '60s suspense classic in a gorgeous widescreen transfer.

A lesser known gem

Although I admit to being a huge Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn fan and so am a little biased, this has to be my favourite of their films. Grant, ever stylish and charming puts on a virtuoso performance in one of his later films (we was in his 60s here), as the handsome stranger helping Audrey after she finds her husband murdered. But is he one of the good guys or is he a spy?

Some entertaining supporting performances from Walter Matthau and James Coburn too.... great fun for a light night in, from a time where even the villains had a lighter side.

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Charade

The movie came in expected condition. They shipped quickly and did a great job.

Classic Mystery

This movie begins to misdirect you from the very beginning. There are a number of plot devices that the avid mystery fan will recognize, but their reuse in this film provides only a minor distraction from the fun.
Reggie Lampert, very convincingly played by the always beautiful Audrey Hepburn, is informed her husband has died at the beginning of the movie. Reggie quickly becomes the target of a group of nefarious individuals played by James Coburn, George Kennedy and Ned Glass. While the role of these three is clear, what is less clear are the roles of Mr. Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) and Peter Joshua (Cary Grant). Both the latter appear to want to help Reggie, but in very different ways.

Adding to Reggie's initial confusion is why everyone is after her. As the movie slowly reveals, her husband was not all that he appeared. Her husband conspired with a group of others to steal a quarter of a million dollars during World War II. However, Reggie's husband apparently decided he wanted all the money for himself and took it without the other's consent. Naturally the other partners were a bit upset and took out their frustrations on Reggie's husband.

The question everyone asks of Reggie is where the money is located. Unfortunately, Reggie's husband neglected to advise her where he hid a quarter of a million dollars in stolen loot. Reggie must find the money to save her life.

This movie intentionally misleads the viewer from the beginning. Cary Grant consorts with the characters we know are criminals, yet he initially appears to be a good guy. Walter Matthau is much less helpful than he should be given that he has an office in the U.S. Embassy. There are even brief moments at the beginning of the movie where I wondered whether Reggie might know more than she revealed.

Paying attention to the movie, you may find that you guess the location of the cash before Reggie and Peter. The plot is prepared for your guess, and both characters lose the money just when they discover where it is hidden. You may guess the other secrets of the movie as well, but the fun is trying to guess before everything is revealed in the final minutes.

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