CHARADE (1963)

Charade is a film I've been meaning to cover for quite a while but could just not form the words for. Often dubbed as "The best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made", it's a film that's gone down in film history as "lightning in a bottle" in so many ways.

Audrey Hepburn as Regina "Reggie" Lampert

Cary Grant as Peter Joshua (and far too many other names to fit here)

Ned Glass as Leopold W. Gideon

James Coburn as "Tex" Panthollow

George Kennedy as Herman Scobie

Jacques Marin as Insp. Edouard Grandpierre

Walter Matthau as Hamilton Bartholomew

Swept into a race to find $250,000 stolen by her recently-deceased husband Charles, interpreter Regina Lampert finds herself paired with dashing stranger Peter Joshua, who helps and protects her when Charles' old WWII comrades come after her for the money. All the while, new names are introduced, shaky alliances are formed, and Regina has to think for herself and act fast when her trust in Joshua starts to falter.

Charade's "centerpiece", if you will, is the push-pull

relationship between Regina and "Joshua".

Adapted by Peter Stone (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three) from his novel The Unsuspecting Wife (based on an earlier screenplay by him and Marc Behm), Charade could have gone wrong in so many ways. Providing the audience a real sense of danger through its great villains, Charade also keeps in the air its important romantic comedy elements, great locations, and a sense of cinematic fun all the way through.

"Meglio stasera, che domani o mai..."

Indeed, Charade is a difficult film to describe because all in all, it flows and moves so naturally that it "sucks you in", sweeping you up in its pacing, music, dialogue, and thrills. This is likely chiefly thanks to Stone's script and Stanley Donen's swift direction, taking the audience right along with the characters.

Special credit should be given to cinematographer Charles Lang

(Some Like It Hot) for his excellent use of light and shadow.

Unlike many thrillers a "bad movie fiend" could name today, Charade benefits tremendously from its characters acting like actual (mostly-logical) human beings. Grant's character may constantly lie due to his motivation, Regina may fall a bit victim to her feelings for him, and Tex, Scobie, and Gideon are often fuelled by their own paranoia and greed, but they are all still smart, intuitive, and clever, participating in the film's constant battle of wits.

Charade's baddies are dangerous and intimidating, but still fun and energetic.

You know a screenplay is great when even its secondary characters 

are memorable. Insp. Grandpierre is a hilarious audience mouthpiece

in lampshading the inherent absurdity of the plot.

While there are a few dated cultural aspects that will make viewers double-take a bit (Regina having married Charles impulsively, Sylvie's skewed priorities on marriage, Regina's preference for unfiltered cigarettes, how no one really comments on Jean-Louis having been kidnapped after the fact), Charade avoids a lot of baggage that many actual Hitchcock films have in that it gives us an excellently written, autonomous female protagonist.

Be honest. Even those with a cursory knowledge of Hitchcock films 

would probably expect a lot worse to happen to Regina.

A fast thinker and a fast actor, Regina is far from incapable in her situation, but is still human and flawed enough for the audience to understand and to keep invested in. Clearly the audience surrogate due to the unusual situation she's thrown into, the casting amplifies this to the hilt. No one wants anything bad to happen to Audrey Hepburn, after all.

The decision to have Regina be the pursuer rather than Grant's character 

saves Charade a bundle of awkwardness in- and out of universe.

Matthau, in the pre-Fortune Cookie phase of his career, is so fantastic, 

you'll wonder how he didn't attain star status sooner.

It's the role of the script and great direction that not only enables Charade to balance its many different tones (its editing and short bouts of violence still hold up today), but also helps it to many rewatches.

AND THE REST... 

Thomas Chelimsky as Jean-Louis Gaudel (center),

who always resembled a young Robin Williams to me.

Paul Bonifas as stamp dealer Mr. Felix,

a small but standout role.

Writer and screenwriter Stone (left) cameos in Regina's arrival

at the U.S. Embassy, dubbed by director Donen.

LOGO GEMS

Charade marks the first appearance of the 1963 - 1990 Universal Pictures logo, in its standard (or "flat" 1.66) aspect ratio version.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

This shot of Matthau (where he gives Hepburn his condolences)

has always looked too bright (overexposed?) to me, especially

compared to the other shots of him in that scene.

Me, on a not-as-regular-as-it-should-be basis.

Charade's use of real Paris locations are worth the price of admission alone.

TIDBITS AND SUCH

Check out Stanley Donen and Peter Stone's audio commentary (currently on the Criterion Blu-ray) the next time you watch Charade. Not only for their trivia, but also, amusingly, for their bickering over details.

Read James Coburn's daughter-in-law Robyn L. Coburn's review for Charade (with great trivia), as well as for his other films here.

Vanity Fair caught up with Thomas Chelimsky (Jean-Louis) in 2017.

Charade is a film that has fast become a "comfort food" movie for me, a fun, witty, all-encompassing experience that will be "on standby" for many years to come. 

Copyright © Chynna Moore