Retro Film Review: Charade (1963)

Those people who are familiar with old movies often complain about the present-day state of cinema, especially Hollywood, which looks much worse than in Good Old Days. Nostalgia and natural tendency among humans to view past days and years through rose-coloured glasses often lead them to conclude that the quality of films in general used to be much better than it is today. So, in that way, old decades look like Golden Age when characters, stars and movies used to be Larger Than Life, and their success owed more to the virtues like charm, talent and hard work instead of publicity campaigns. This is especially so when the old movie connoisseurs compare certain average examples of certain genres with their classic counterparts. The difference in quality becomes especially striking in the case of light-hearted comedies with a romantic flavour. One of such classic examples, although not romantic comedy in strict sense, is Charade, 1963 film by Stanley Donen, extremely entertaining piece of cinema which is often referenced as the "Best Hitchcock film Hitchock never made".

Heroine of this film is Regina "Reggie" Lampert (played by Audrey Hepburn), UNESCO translator who goes through some rather rough period in her life. While on vacation in Megeve she had decided to divorce her husband Charles, feeling estranged after years of unsuccessful attempts to find anything about his background or source of his fortune. When she returns to Paris, her home is emptied of all possessions and Charles has disappeared. Police inspector Granpierre (played by Jacques Marin) brings another bad news – Charles has converted all his (and Regina's) belongings to cash and tried to leave the country, only to be killed on the train. The money is gone, presumably taken by the killer, but that doesn't concern three menacing characters - Tex Panthollow (played by James Coburn), Herman Scobie (played by George Kennedy) and Leopold Gideon (played by Ned Glass) – who visit Regina and demand 250,000 US$, apparently owed to them by her late husband. Regina would like to pay them, but she doesn't have a clue where the money should be. On the other hand, CIA agent Hamilton Barthollomew (played by Walter Matthau) is also interested in the money, because it used to belong to US government until it was stolen by Charles and his comrades during the covert operation behind enemy lines in WW2. Three men who harass Regina were apparently Charles' partners in the scheme, who got themselves swindled by their comrade. But this revelation is hardly comforting to Regina, who remains fearful for her life. Thankfully, charming and suave businessman Peter Joshua (played by Cary Grant) is always there to save her from unpleasant situations and offer assistance, but Regina gradually begins suspecting his true motives.

In this day and age, any plot containing cynical widow, large stash of stolen money and multitude of menacing or double-crossing characters determined to get their hands on it, would probably be most suitable for low budget Tarantinoesque farce with tons of black humour, graphic violence and thousanda of shouted obscenities. However, Peter Stone wrote his script in a more enlightened, kinder and gentler era of moviemaking. Humour in Charade might look macabre at times, but in general the film is very light, at least for today's standards. Characters are simple but effective, with actors - especially supporting cast led by Coburn and Kennedy - making them colourful without heavy- handed attempts to make them cool. But the greatest contribution to the lightheartedness of Charade was probably given by director Stanley Donen. Filmmaker who had made his reputation by filming classic musicals in 1950s like Singin' in the Rain and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, successfully adapted his directing skills to the new genre, and also added his own tendency to make the material as light- hearted as possible. Donen, on the other hand, also learned a thing or two from the masters of the genre. Major element of the plot - ordinary person in extraordinary situation - looks very Hitchcockian, as well as the fight scene on the Parisian rooftop, probably intended as humorous homage to the similar scene in North by Northwest. Some critics also found many links between Charade and early Bond films, including effective teaser scene, little flavour of international intrigue and exotic Parisian setting.

But the most memorable element of Charade is not the plot or elaborate scenes. This film owes its reputation to its leading stars, acting legends that look like deities and represent movie equivalent of the age when giants walked the earth. On one hand we have Audrey Hepburn, embodiment of Class among Hollywood female stars. Her slender, almost anorexic figure, combined with girlish looks and manners of aristocratic adult, allows her to turn Reggie Lampert as one of the most memorable characters in the history of romantic comedy. Her "damsel in distress" routine is nicely illustrated with few deliberate scenes of overacting, intended to keep the lightheartedness of the movie in few dark and macabre scenes. (One of the elements of Reggie's character - career in UNESCO - gives a prophetic dimension to this film, considering Hepburn's real life work for UN in latter years). Opposite her is Cary Grant, another Hollywood legend who also built reputation by playing charming and suave characters in romantic comedies. In this film he uses script opportunity to play not one, but many variations of the same character, additionally entertaining the viewers by making them guess his true alignment (and that game continues until the very last shot of the film). But the true strength of Hepburn's and Grant's performances is in their interaction – all murder, mayhem and international intrigue that goes around their characters represents nothing more than one giant Macguffin-like obstacle in their romantic path. On the other hand, their exchanges, although always amusing, at times seem a little bit distracting and unnecessarily lengthen the film. Few screen couples had so much chemistry between them and Charade is therefore one of the most effective and entertaining romantic comedies. Finally, another memorable element of this film is musical theme by Henry Mancini, the author who would later become legend by producing music for Blake Edwards' films.

All in all, Charade is an excellent piece of classic Hollywood entertainment, somewhat overlooked by present day audience, but nevertheless a splendid product of bygone era of filmmaking.

RATING: 9/10 (++++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on June 18th 2000)

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/4808-charade?language=en-US
Critic: AAA