Product Description

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Media Type: DVD
Artist: GRANT/HEPBURN
Title: CHARADE
Street Release Date: 06/05/2001
Domestic
Genre: DRAMA

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2151 in DVD
• Brand: GRANT/HEPBURN
• Released on: 2001-07-31
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, German, Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
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

Customer Reviews

Not up to Cary Grant potential.
Half hearten drama , romace weak with story line, and I like most Cary Grant movie but this is a one time see at best.

Classic Mystery
This movie begins to misdirect you from the very beginning. There are a number of plot devices that the avid mystery fan will recognize, but their reuse in this film provides only a minor distraction from the fun.
Reggie Lampert, very convincingly played by the always beautiful Audrey Hepburn, is informed her husband has died at the beginning of the movie. Reggie quickly becomes the target of a group of nefarious individuals played by James Coburn, George Kennedy and Ned Glass. While the role of these three is clear, what is less clear are the roles of Mr. Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) and Peter Joshua (Cary Grant). Both the latter appear to want to help Reggie, but in very different ways.

Adding to Reggie's initial confusion is why everyone is after her. As the movie slowly reveals, her husband was not all that he appeared. Her husband conspired with a group of others to steal a quarter of a million dollars during World War II. However, Reggie's husband apparently decided he wanted all the money for himself and took it without the other's consent. Naturally the other partners were a bit upset and took out their frustrations on Reggie's husband.

The question everyone asks of Reggie is where the money is located. Unfortunately, Reggie's husband neglected to advise her where he hid a quarter of a million dollars in stolen loot. Reggie must find the money to save her life.

This movie intentionally misleads the viewer from the beginning. Cary Grant consorts with the characters we know are criminals, yet he initially appears to be a good guy. Walter Matthau is much less helpful than he should be given that he has an office in the U.S. Embassy. There are even brief moments at the beginning of the movie where I wondered whether Reggie might know more than she revealed.

Paying attention to the movie, you may find that you guess the location of the cash before Reggie and Peter. The plot is prepared for your guess, and both characters lose the money just when they discover where it is hidden. You may guess the other secrets of the movie as well, but the fun is trying to guess before everything is revealed in the final minutes.

Bad transfer
Don't buy this version of the movie. It looks like it was directly transferred from VHS. The box says it is "widescreen". It is NOT true widescreen. The transfer looks very bad. The quality of this is horrible for both the audio and video aspects. I would recommend purchasing the Criterion version or the other DVD release.

Movie-wise it was okay. There is definately some on-screen chemistry with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, but the story is a little kooky. Not the best movie vehicle for both stars involved. A rental at best, if interested.