Sciarada

Just one of the many marvelous moments in "Charade", one of Cary Grant's and Audrey Hepburn's best films. There's a quarter of a million dollars floating around instant-widow Hepburn but nobody can SEE IT (it's right in front of their eyes). Filled with running jokes, colorful and eccentric oddities (such as trenchcoat-wearing George Kennedy with his hook and the little guy who won't stop sneezing), funny set-pieces (like the funeral scene, and Audrey's priceless exaggerated reactions) and suspenseful sequences, not to mention Audrey and Cary looking smashing together. This is one of 50 best films ever made, as good as "Casablanca" and "My Fair Lady". In fact, I think it's better.

Terrific movie that can be perceived both as a first-rate piece of straight entertainment, and as a meditation on the thin line separating truth and lie. Ingenious script, dialogue filled with funny interplay, great chemistry between the two charismatic stars, vivid and fast-paced direction by Stanley Donen. Not quite in the league of "North By Northwest", but still a very entertaining and recommendable picture. (***)

When I first saw "Charade", I was convinced for the longest time this was a Hitchcock movie. Small wonder; Hitchcock all but set the standard for quality mystery films. Still, I give director Donen my sincerest apologies. Anyway, where did this film go?? Its tasteful humor, colorful characters and intelligent plot make "Charade" one of the best mystery movies ever made, but it's not well known even among classic films.

"Look for it. Look as hard and as fast as you can." This film ranks with "Clue", "The Name of the Rose" and "The 39 Steps" as one of the most enjoyable mysteries of all time. Makes a great dating/party movie.

If you're in the mood for a clever mixture of suspense, romance, humor and some fantastic location shots, treat yourself to CHARADE. Audrey Hepburn was never more appealing than she is here--badly in need of help to discover the whereabouts of the hidden money her late husband's enemies want to find. With her life hanging in the balance, she enlists the aid of Cary Grant--but since all is not what it seems, you're in for some surprising plot twists along a very merry ride.

Just relax and let Cary and Audrey do all the work--with the help of a great supporting cast including Walter Matthau, superb in a surprising supporting role. Stanley Donen keeps it all moving at a brisk pace and Henry Mancini's music is a sheer delight.

Highly recommended as an expert, elegant mixture of humor and suspense, even if it does seem to imitate the Hitchcock way of filmmaking.

"Charade" seems to exist in a parallel universe, where it is not only humanly possible for a man to be as dapper, sexy and urbane as Cary Grant, and a woman to be as chic, adorable and beautiful as Audrey Hepburn, but for them to be a romantic couple, to boot (the mind reels at what the children would look and sound like). Long underrated and underappreciated (and only available in horrible-looking, grainy video prints), this fabulously entertaining comedy-thriller is the cinematic equivilant of a champagne cocktail. Often compared (perhaps unfavorably) to Hitchcock's films of the period, "Charade" contains little of the heavy psychological tension that marked Hitch's work. Instead, the film concentrates on witty banter, Audrey's wardrobe and a clever script--and we're the richer for it. Audrey is a sudden widow who is terrifyingly thrust into a web of deceit; her late husband, it seems, was being hunted by three ex-war buddies with whom he stole $250,000. Audrey, they think, has the money--and if she doesn't come up with it quickly, she'll be joining him. Cary Grant is the handsome, mysterious stranger who may be friend or foe. It had been done before, and it's been done since, but never with such panache. Henry Mancini's stylish score adds immeasurably to both the fun and the tension; and the ever-nimble Stanley Donen directs the suspense scenes just as deftly as the comic ones. My favorites: Audrey trailing Cary dressed "inconspicuously" in a white Givenchy trenchcoat and huge movie star sunglasses, while giving a poor German tourist the fits; Audrey finally cornering Cary in her hotel room and lightly kissing her way down his face--today's filmmakers might take a page from her book: this scene is intensely romantic without ever seeing a bit of exposed flesh or dueling tongues; and of course, the fabulous opening scene (I won't give away the surprise)--with Audrey wearing one of my favorite Movie Star get ups of all time: a hooded mink poncho over a catsuit. This is entertainment with a capital "E", made all the more enjoyable because it never panders to the lowest common denominator, never dips into "camp," and never breaks a sweat. Today's films continue to mine the same territory, and the results are ceaselessly boring, tawdry or both. You can FEEL the strain of the writers and actors as they attempt the kind of slick interplay that came naturally to those involved in "Charade." The beautiful, magnificently restored Criterion DVD edition now allows us to revel in this film like never before.