Charade

Rating:
Summary: Pure Chemistry With Grant & Hepburn!!!!
Review: Cary Grant & Audrey Hepburn were a magical team to see on screen, and I can't think of a better movie to illustrate it than Charade. A comedic spy adventure accented with additional stars like Walter Mathau and James Coburn, this movie will keep you laughing in between the thrills of a classic 60's spy film. Henry Mancini's music is a fantastic companion to the story line and truly captures the time period. I love this movie and never tire of watching it. For every: Grant / Hepburn fan, fans of 60's spy films and people who love humour, you must see this. They just don't make movies like this anymore, and they don't make stars like this either.

Rating:
Summary: Charade
Review: I thought this movie was great. It had a sense of mystery, excitement, and humor that kept me entertained throughout the whole movie.

Rating:
Summary: What a great movie!
Review: Although Charade has been criticized as "Hitchcock lite," this film stands on its own. Criterion presents a beautiful transfer of this great flick, featuring Hepburn and Grant, alongside a scene-stealing (and young) Walter Matthau.

The only other film I can think to compare this to off the top of my head is North By Northwest (comparison obviously inspired by the Hitchcockian feel and presence of Grant), but don't think of it as derivative. It seems at times that screenwriter Peter Stone was trying to out-Hitchcock Hitchcock with the endless plot twists, but unlike the trend in current cinema, each of the twists seems reasonable and believable. Also, the plot twists add to the story, rather than being conventional sensationalism.

In short - a classic film and not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: One of THE best commentaries I have ever heard
Review: The film transfer is beautiful, of course, it is Criterion. The trailer and menu boards are wonderful, fits the film perfectly. The biggest surprise was the commentary track by director Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone. It was informative, yet very funny. You could tell they were great friends who respected one another. They were always correcting one another and leading each other into wonderful stories. It was a gas.

Rating:
Summary: Charade's anyone?
Review: This film owes more than a little to Hitchcock Donen is almost bordering on copy right infringement rights here. But that's a good thing! Since Hitchcock nearly invented and perfected the romantic thriller. The Film stars Grant and Hepburn in some of their most public persona roles not for a second do you believe that they are portraying characters but you believe that Grant and Hepburn THEMSELVES are in danger. That makes this film a very trippy and arresting experience. The scenes where Hepburn thinks that Grant's character is truly evil and she decides to flee is both hilarious and heart pounding at the same time. The film has an almost reved up feeling to it. In some scenes the shadows are so stark they act as if they are another character in the film and so does the eye popping color in the more splashy scenes and Criterion's transfer of the film is perfect! I love this film for just being pure fluff and escapism. It's a roller coaster ride of heart pounding images and witty dialogue and pretty faces and it's marvelous!

Rating:
Summary: Charade a film worth viewing
Review: If your fan of Cary Grant & who is not. This is essential to own. This movie is sutle Cary Grant grey haired, yet still handsom. An excellent mystery with strong supporting cast. For the begining movie collector this is a clear choice.

Rating:
Summary: Third Time Is A Charm
Review: Anybody else out there own three copies of Charade on DVD?

It's a great movie, yeah, but not worth three copies. Well, maybe the lesson was worth three copies. The first one took me by surprise. Front Row Features put it out. Nice looking jewel case with the word LETTERBOX EDITION across the top. I had to have it. Couldn't wait to watch it. It was the worst piece of crap I'd ever seen shoveled onto DVD. Faded colors. Blurry pictures. Horrid sound that kept breaking up. It was worse than my ten-year-old VHS copy. I was mortified. Then someone told me there was a copy out there by a company called Criterion Collection, but the price was $40.00. No way, I thought, am I paying that much for a movie.

Next copy I bought was put out by Diamond Entertainment. I'll give them their due. They did a fairly good job of cleaning up whatever print they used. The picture is pretty good; color still slightly washed out, some flickering that's annoying. The sound has been repaired. So what you get is about a C+ to a low B- for this DVD. I like Diamond. And compared to the road kill that Front Row Features served up, the Diamond Entertainment version is a seven-course meal in the finest restaurant.

At last, I couldn't stand it any longer. I went for the Criterion Collection version. I know, I know. Three copies. But the Front Row Features DVD will be thrown into the trash; I won't even subject a stranger at a garage sale to that basement torture trash. The Diamond Entertainment version, which is not a bad copy, just not the best, I'll hand over to my brother as a free-bee gift. He likes the movie, as well, and is even less likely than I to put out the cash.

But then there's the Criterion Collection version. This IS the SEVEN COURSE MEAL AT THE FINEST RESTAURANT, topped off with the finest drinks and entertainment, and a check at the end that says ON THE HOUSE! Everything great anyone has said about the Criterion Collection DVD of Charade is true. It's beautiful. The sound is perfect. The color heavenly. There are no age spots what so ever, no dropouts, none of the flickering that indicates the film was damaged and had to be spliced. It's a beautiful widescreen transfer from a 33mm interpositive. I'd never seen the original trailer for this film till I bought this DVD; it's funny, it's charming, it gets you primed for the movie. There is an Audio Commentary with director Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone. And some great career highlights on Peter Stone's career.

It took me three times to get it right (and that won't happen again, at least with DVDs), but get it right I did. Don't ever buy the Front Row Features version; if you already have it, burn it. NOW. If you can't afford the Criterion version, go ahead and get the Diamond Entertainment version; as always, they do a good job for a low price. But if you want the absolute best presentation of this movie, if you want to see the movie as it has not been seen since it was in the theater almost 40 years ago, find the Criterion Collection DVD. You will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy the widescreen VHS version
Review: I'll be brief. Charade is a great film. However this version is a cheaply packaged poorly duplicated version of an inferior print. From the packaging that strongly resembles color Xerox to the streaky, jumpy, shoddy quality of the tape itself this product screams quick and dirty. Refund or not, after 3 minutes of viewing I'll be returning this. I hope the 4 : 3 aspect versions are better made from better source material.

Rating:
Summary: A Perfect piece of classy entertainment
Review: Firstly I must strongly urge all folks interested in adding this classic, classy and effortless piece of entertainment to thier libraries that they be sure that they are purchasing the Criterion Collection edition of this DVD. Charade has fallen into the public domain and there are a vast multitude of horrendous versions out there. Drop the few extra dollars and get this edition. Criterion did a magnificent job transfering this film technically.

That said, Charade is a prototype of what makes movies fun. Firstly there is a beautiful, intelligent, innocent, witty and urbane heroine played here by the ultimate in feminity Audrey Hepburn. Audrey is the mold for all movie stars to follow and here she is no exception. Radiant is an adjective that is perhaps over used in describing this angel of the screen, but that word is most appropriate. Hepburn's beauty is not skin deep. She completely shines from within and when placed into the trecherous machinations of this delightfully complicated plot, our sympathies are immediately and completely with her. Maybe she wasn't the most versitile actress. Maybe she did enjoy a career based solely upon her style and class, but what style and class she does have here.

Cary Grant's rascal of a character manages to be shaded, charming and, when need be, tough. Grant is the abosolute perfect match for Hepburn. Casting these two luminaries was a casting coup of the rarest order. The sheer sexual power they both exude is animalistic and civilized at the same time. These two forces of nature must be together and their combined energies really do ignite the screen. They manage all this power with out a single on screen sex scene. It is all done through gesture, dialouge and expert staging.

As he did with the equally perfect Singin' in the Rain, Director Stanley Donen uses color, composition and movement to celebrate life. I know that sounds crazy when discussing a film filled with suspense and real danger as Charade but it is true. Donen takes us to exotic places (Paris in this film can really only exist in film!) and fills his frame with an unbridled joy and energy.All these characters are filled with passions (justice, romance, avarice, revenge) that drive this narrative. Donen has a unique gift for insighting super charged (energetically speaking) performances from his casts. Few films are as much fun to watch as Charade.

The supporting cast is both comic and dangerous. James Coburn, George Kennedy, the sadly forgotten Ned Glass and of course, the bumbling Walter Matthau all deliver expert performances that are most generous while serving the script and keeping much to the vest. Everybody has a game of charades to play here and play it they do to the hilt.

Peter Stone's script is funny and tight without resorting to the obvious one liners prevailing in so many comedy thrillers- which Charace may have been the hybrid. Stone's script also manages to be continental without resorting to snobbery. Something Stone himself can't avoid in the commentary included on this disk.

I've read that they are planning a remake of this classic. I'm sorry to hear that. Why remake perfection?

Charade is reccomended for all who desire to suspend disbelief and willingly fall into a delightful maze of danger, romance, suprise and suspense. Don't miss this one.

Rating:
Summary: A bit of this, a bit of that, a lot of entertainment
Review: I can't precise exactly why I love this film. Might be the plot, Audrey Hepburn, the other actors, Paris, the sense of humor or the mix of all these in one great and entertaining movie. If you like nice movies from the 50's/60's, Charade can't be out of your collection.