CHARADE

CHARADE

1963 113 min

The early to mid-1960s were a great time for the humorous, romantic, but suspenseful "caper movie." Perhaps because of the success of the James Bond movies, and presaged by Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest, we had many wide-screen treats such as Gambit, Topkapi, How to Steal a Million, and a wonderful pair of Stanley Donen romance-comedy capers, Charade, and Arabesque that spanned the middle of the decade. Donen, who had co-directed Singin' in the Rain with Gene Kelly a decade before (as well as such drama, comedy, and musical classics as Indiscreet, Two for the Road, Bedazzled, and Funny Face) could do just about anything, and he handled this genre with just as much flair as he brought to everything else.

From the moment the story begins, and Maurice Binder's wonderful title designs unwind to Henry Mancini's classic theme song, we're in exotic locales with beautiful scenery, wondering with poor defenseless Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn, dressed in -- what else? -- Givenchy throughout the film) why her husband was murdered, why her world is turned upside down, and particularly why, oh why, those three strange, crazy creepy men (George Kennedy, James Coburn, and Ned Glass) seem to be after a great deal of money they think she has, which she knows nothing about. Helping her (or are they also after the money?) are Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) and Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau in a brilliant character role). Are they who they say they are? And who, exactly is or isn't on her side in all this? Watch as the story tangles and untangles, weaves its way through the back streets and major avenues of Paris toward a solution you'll never guess. There's laughter, suspense, romance, and above all, high style along the way, all to the sounds of a vintage Henry Mancini score. Hepburn, who is fetching and vulnerable as Regina, is obviously having a lot of fun, and is in her element in this stylish European milieu. Only four years later, she'd get her chance to really prove her "acting chops" in the serious suspense genre when she'd play the terrorized blind woman in Terence Young's film version of Frederick Knott's nail-biter, Wait Until Dark.

The great plot and screenplay of Charade is primarily the work of veteran stage and screenwriter Peter Stone (who appears in a cameo in a scene on an elevator watch for him.) In addition to Charade, Stone wrote Donen's companion film, Arabesque (made a few years later, with Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren), as well as another great Walter Matthau film, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, Mirage (another classic mystery-suspense film of the 1960s), Jigsaw, the Cary Grant classic Father Goose, the stage and screen musical 1776, and the screenplay for Bob Fosse's film version of Sweet Charity.

Our showing of Charade is part of our tribute this summer to the late great actor Walter Matthau, who, in this film as in all his films, dominates the screen whenever he appears.

By Kenn Rabin

Fact: CHARADE is one of Cary Grants last screen appearances. Cary decided to stop making movies at this point in his career because he wanted people to remember him as the good looking man that he was. Although he had no problem with growing old, he didn't want his fans to see it happen on the big screen. He looks wonderful in the film as one of it's great lines indicates. Hepburn: "Do you know what's wrong with you?" Grant: "No, what?" Hepburn: "Nothing!"