Mystery Movie Review - Charade

 This 1963 suspense thriller took a long route to fame.  Screenwriters Peter Stone and Marc Behm shopped their movie script "The Unsuspecting Wife" around Hollywood, but were consistantly turned down. So Stone turned it into a novel with the new title Charade and it was serialized in Redbook magazine. The serial publishing in Redbook managed to catch the attention of a few Hollywood companies that turned it down before! The film rights finally sold to producer and director Stanley Donen who reworked it into a final shooting script and specifically tailored it to movie stars Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, and Behm (the original author) received story co-credit.  The movie was a huge hit

What it's about:

Charade has been called 'the best Alfred Hitchcock film he didn't direct.' The movie opens with a man, Charles Lambert, thrown off a train.  His wife,  Regina Lampert [Audrey Hepburn], an elegant American interpreter living in France, is on a skiing holiday in the French Alps at the time and meets Peter Joshua [Cary Grant]. Regina returns to her home in France to find the place completely emptied of everything and the news her husband was killed-and Peter Joshua there by her side.   The police say her husband had a different name and it turns out she knew nothing about Charles - not even his real name.  Regina is threatened and pursued by three men after $250,000 allegedly stolen by Charles.  What follows is a cat-and-mouse game to unearth the money.  Then there is Peter Joshua who has many identities and seems to be after the money one minute and protecting Regina from the others the next.  Nothing is what it seems and there are plenty of twists.

Cast:

Cary Grant as Peter Joshua (alias Brian Cruikshank, Alexander Dyle, and Adam Canfield)

Audrey Hepburn as Regina "Reggie" Lampert

Walter Matthau as Hamilton Bartholomew

James Coburn as Tex Panthollow

George Kennedy as Herman Scobie

Dominique Minot as Sylvie Gaudel

Ned Glass as Leopold W. Gideon

Rotten Tomatoes 94%  

Noteworthy awards or rankings:

• Nominated Academy Award for best Song "Charade" Music by Henry Mancini/Lyrics by Johnny Mercer

• Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture-Cary Grant 

• Golden Globe Award Nominations for Best Actress in a Motion Picture-Audrey Hepburn

• In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

• Included among the American Film Institute's 2001 list of 400 movies nominated for the top 100 Most Heart-Pounding American Movies.

• Included among the American Film Institute's 2002 list of 400 movies nominated for the top 100 top 100 America's Greatest Love Stories movies.

Trivia:

• Charade was remade in 2002 as "The Truth About Charlie" starring Mark Walhberg and Thandiwe Newton.  Significant changes to the storyline and the chemistry between Grant and Hepburn was missing. It only got 34% from Rotten Tomatoes.

• The beautiful outfit Audrey Hepburn wears when she discovers her empty apartment was designed by Givenchy. It was homage to the iconic look of then first lady Jackie Kennedy, who wore the couture of Oleg Cassini.

• It's clear this film was made while Kennedy was President because, during the final scenes in the embassy, one can see Kennedy's portrait on the wall of the secretary's office.  Kennedy was assasinated while they were filming. 

• Audrey Hepburn and Walter Matthau are seen walking through the old Paris food marketplace of Les Halles as it sets up for the day's business. It closed in 1971 and was replaced by a modern shopping mall.

• The subway scenes were shot on Paris Metro line #1. In the film it runs from Chateau de Vincennes to Pont de Neuilly. 

• The Paris office of American Express, shown in the movie, was a well known place for U.S. tourists to meet up, get information, book tours, exchange currency and collect their forwarded mail. Sadly, it closed some time ago as travel habits changed in the digital age.

• This film is one of the rare movies that becomes a whole different story on subsequent viewings, once the plot twist is revealed at the first viewing.

• In the opening scene, Reggie asks her friend if her son can do something constructive. The actor who played the son, Thomas Chelimsky, apparently took this advice to heart, because he became a successful doctor in Wisconsin.

• The Puppet Theater is The Théatre Vrai Guignolet at Rond Point des Champs Elysées, Paris, France.  It is the most famous puppet theater in all of France. It's location has never changed since 1818.

• While on the Bateaux Mouches, the tour boats on the Seine in Paris, Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn have their first passionate kiss. The boat then goes into darkness under a bridge. There are many references to Hitchcock films in Charade. At the end of "North by Northwest" Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint have a passionate kiss and then go through a tunnel.

• During the last scene, the screen splits into a checkerboard showing their ending kiss along with Cary Grant's funniest scenes from the movie and "The End."

My Thoughts:

This is a classic for a reason.  It is a highly entertaining suspense thriller set in Paris with some comedic tidbits by Cary Grant. The all star cast makes the tension sizzle and the chemistry between Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn makes this one of the best thrillers that has aged well.  It builds the suspense and the audience knows Grant isn't who he claims he is, but can he be trusted or will he kill Hepburn if she doesn't turn over the money? Next to Grant and Hepburn, Walter Matthau gives his best performance of his long and illustrious career.  

The twists are great in this movie that was considered experimental when it released.  Cary Grant was cast in this romantic leading man role, even as his hair had greyed, opposite the younger and lovely Audrey Hepburn which gives another layer to the movie.  Charade shows that you can build tension and fear without gore and lots of on-screen violence.  The dialog and character interactions are all crisp and deliver in every scene.  Every major character gives a spot-on performance, which is difficult in an ensemble cast.  The Paris scenery in winter is perfect for a brooding and layered movie.  The music throughout adds perfectly to each scene.  

Movie Trailer: