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DVD Charade (Anamorphic Widescreen) - Criterion Collection
Audrey Hepburn plays a Parisienne whose husband is murdered and who finds she is being followed by four men seeking the fortune her late spouse had hidden away. Cary Grant is the stranger who comes to her aid, but his real motives aren't entirely clear--could he even be the killer? The 1963 film is directed by Stanley Donen, but it has been called "Hitchcockian" for good reason: the possible duplicities between lovers, the unspoken agendas between a man and woman sharing secrets. Charade is nowhere as significant as a Hitchcock film, but suspense-wise it holds its own; and Donen's glossy production lends itself to the welcome experience of stargazing. One wants Cary Grant to be Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn to be no one but Audrey Hepburn in a Hollywood product such as this, and they certainly don't let us down. --Tom Keogh
Review(s): DVD Charade (Anamorphic Widescreen) - Criterion Collection
Good Old-Fashioned Suspense
Audrey Hepburn has returned to Paris from a ski resort to learn that her husband has been murdered. Apparently he was one of five American soldiers during World War II who conspired to steal $250,000 in gold. His buddies have been seeking their shares of the treasure and have now come to the conclusion that Hepburn has been told the location of it.
James Coburn, Ned Glass and George Kennedy are the three ex-soldiers who are menacing Hepburn. Walter Matthau and Cary Grant are both telling her that they want to help her. Hepburn cannot decide which one is on her side. The viewer does not learn the truth either until the final climactic scene.
The acting is superb and the tension rises continuously. There is little waste in this movie.
CHARADE received an Oscar nomination in 1963 for Best Song ("Charade"). Stanley Donen directed several other good films during his career including SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS.
A Delicious Mystery
This is the kind of classy entertainment missing from the movies today. Stanley Donen and Peter Stone cooked up this delicious souffle of a movie and got Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn to star in this comedy mystery set in Paris. Donen doesn't try to overpower us with his location, making it all the more effective as a backdrop to this twisty confection. Even the famous Mancini score is used in a soft and subtle way to create a film of elegance and style.
Regina Lambert (Audrey Hepburn) is in Paris contemplating a divorce from husband Charlie who she no longer loves and knows very little about. When he is murdered, Inspector Edouard Grandpierre (Jacques Marin) and CIA man Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) begin to fill in the holes of Charlie's checkered past and inform Reggie how much danger she is in. It seems that some very shady and determined characters want the $250,000.00 Charlie had that is now missing. Luckily for her, Cary Grant shows up to be her white knight and protector from these thugs; or is it?
James Coburn as Tex and George Kennedy as Scobie are particularly menacing as two of the bad guys after Reggie, who they think has the money. But telling the bad guys from the good guys gets more complicated by the minute as she discovers lie after lie that Grant has told her and he changes his identity with every new story he tells her. It even turns out he knows these guys. Yet, Reggie finds herself falling for the older but distinguished Grant anyway and by the end of this film she may just have to take a leap of faith to save her own life.
There are some teriffic moments in this film with Cary and Audrey including a scene in a nightclub involving a fun dance and an orange! The romantic atmosphere is punctuated by a ferry boat excursion at night, Mancini's chorus of "Charade" softly playing in the background. This is classy and stylish entertainment produced and directed by Stanley Donen.
The two stars were at their peak here, as was Stanley Donen. A delightful and suspenseful film with great locations, teriffic stars, and an innocent, romantic glow. You'll be suprised where the $250,000.00 is "hidden" and just what is really going on here. This film has a marvelous ending and will make you wonder why they don't make films like this anymore. Maybe it's because they can't. You have to own a copy of this one......
the original is always better
and lucky for you this is the original. loved it.
Related DVD's Charade (Anamorphic Widescreen) - Criterion Collection
This minor 1955 work by Alfred Hitchcock, one of the lighter entries of his creative peak in the 1950s, is still imbued with the master's stock themes of shared guilt and romantic ambivalence. It is also hardly lacking in Hitchcockian cinematic inventiveness, such as a famous, often-imitated sequence in which some smooching between stars Cary Grant and Grace Kelly is intercut with a fireworks show that just happens to be going on outside in a Riviera setting. Grant plays a reformed cat burglar who is suspected of reviving his trade, though he knows someone else is using his old methods. A very enjoyable experience, but don't get this confused with Hitchcock's other Cary Grant film of that decade, which was a masterpiece: North by Northwest.--Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Cary Grant - Grace Kelly DVD Release Date: Released the 05 November 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A strong candidate for the most sheerly entertaining and enjoyable movie ever made by a Hollywood studio (with Citizen Kane, Only Angels Have Wings and Trouble in Paradise running neck and neck). Positioned between the much heavier and more profoundly disturbing Vertigo (1958) and the stark horror of Psycho (1960), North by Northwest (1959) is Alfred Hitchcock at his most effervescent in a romantic comedy-thriller that also features one of the definitive Cary Grant performances. Which is not to say that this is just "Hitchcock Lite"; seminal Hitchcock critic Robin Wood (in his book Hitchcock's Films Revisited) makes an airtight case for this glossy MGM production as one of The Master's "unbroken series of masterpieces from Vertigo to... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Cary Grant - Eva Marie Saint Director(s): Alfred Hitchcock DVD Release Date: Released the 29 August 2000 This item is currently not available.
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Fred Astaire plays a fashion photographer based on real-life cameraman Richard Avedon, in this entertaining musical directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The story finds Astaire's character turning Audrey Hepburn into a chic Paris model--not a tough premise to buy, especially within this film's air of enchantment and surrounded by a great Gershwin score. Based on an unproduced play, this is one of the best films from the latter part of Astaire's career. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Director(s): Stanley Donen DVD Release Date: Released the 10 April 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Maybe it doesn't quite live up to its sterling reputation, and maybe the leading man and director were slightly miscast. But who cares? Roman Holiday is the film that brought Audrey Hepburn to prominence, and the world movie audience went weak at the knees. The endlessly charming Hepburn had her first starring role in this sweet romance, playing a European princess on an official tour through Rome. Frustrated by her lack of connection to the real world, she slips away from her protective handlers and goes on a spree, aided by a tough-guy news reporter (Gregory Peck). Director William Wyler, more at home with such heavy-going, Oscar-winning classics as The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben- Hur, doesn't always keep the champagne bubbles afloat, and the Peck role would... More Info about this DVD Director(s): William Wyler DVD Release Date: Released the 26 November 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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No film better utilizes Audrey Hepburn's flighty charm and svelte beauty than this romantic adaptation of Truman Capote's novella. Hepburn's urban sophisticate Holly Golightly, an enchanting neurotic living off the gifts of gentlemen, is a bewitching figure in designer dresses and costume jewelry. George Peppard is her upstairs neighbor, a struggling writer and "kept" man financed by a steely older woman (Patricia Neal). His growing friendship with the lonely Holly soon turns to love and threatens the delicate balance of both of their compromised lives. Taking liberties with Capote's bittersweet story, director Blake Edwards and screenwriter George Axelrod turn New York into a city of lovers and create a poignant portrait of Holly, a frustrated romantic with a secret past and a hidden... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Audrey Hepburn - George Peppard Director(s): Blake Edwards DVD Release Date: Released the 21 September 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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