{"id":3113,"date":"2021-08-29T21:23:53","date_gmt":"2021-08-29T21:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=3113"},"modified":"2023-01-22T22:23:29","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T22:23:29","slug":"film-review-charade-1963","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=3113","title":{"rendered":"FiLM REViEW: Charade, 1963"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2018The best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We watched this on Prime a couple of nights back. Weird film! The soundtrack is Henry Mancini, and is great. The opening titles, by Maurice Binder are strikingly good too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the opening scene in a ski-resort, where Reggie Lampert (Tawdry Hipbone), rich socialite thinking of a divorce, meets The Man of 1000 Names (Gary Crant) is, like much of the rest of the film, a cloying souffl\u00e9 of fighting flavours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Lampert gets home, she discovers it gutted, her husband dead at the Paris morgue. A bizarre scenario is played out at his funeral, in which we meet the main antagonists. She\u2019s plunged into a web of deceit and suspicion, revolving around a stolen wartime fortune, which she\u2019s suspected of having, whether she knows it or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Interesting titles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But this is all so much hot air, the real centrepiece of the film is the much vaunted repartee, \u2018twixt the himbo and bimbo leads. Whilst admittedly often quite amusing, it\u2019s also too much like the script of a fat middle-aged man\u2019s wet dream: he gruffly and wittily uninterested in purring and very available sex kitten. Say wha\u2019!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This doesn\u2019t have quite the same deft assurance as Hitchcock\u2019s North by Northwest<\/em>, in which Grant trades similar (but significantly subtler) blows with Eva Marie Saint. But then Charade<\/em> is more confused as to exactly what kind of movie it really is. It teeters at about 60\/40 or maybe 55\/45 in favour of romantic comedy over thriller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I do love Walter Mathau.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Director\/producer Stanley Donen, longest surviving of Hollywood\u2019s \u2018golden age\u2019 gang, passed in 2019, aged 94. His most famous film is probably Singin\u2019 In The Rain<\/em>, closely followed by On The Town<\/em>. A former choreographer, best known for musicals, it\u2019s as if he can\u2019t choose which genre he\u2019s going with here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alternations between light comedy and borderline scary thriller, as Hepburn and Grant spar, fall inevitably in love, and search for the deadly missing swag, are frequent and more than a little discombobulating. In the end the charisma of the main leads, and the charms of Paris, where it\u2019s mostly shot, just about carry the weight of this mish-mash of a movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film\u2019s trailer trades on the blending of styles idea.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, to the small supporting ensemble: Walter Mathau I pretty much always love, not sure why. James Coburn likewise. Ned Glass is great too. George Kennedy I find more variable; great sometimes, not so good at others. He is probably the weakest of the key supporting roles, for me. But these guys populate what is a small core of central characters in this rather whacky movie, in which $250,000 of lost US Govt. OSS loot is the plot driving \u2018McGuffin\u2019 propelling the action along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some interesting shots\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u2026 clearly tip a hat to Hitchcock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The ending of the film ratchets up the consistent theme of confusion, to which the title Charade<\/em> alludes, quite nicely. And we head for a denouement at once both surprising and yet strangely predictable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not quite reaching truly Hitchcockian heights, it\u2019s like a confused pastiche or homage to him. A period piece and an oddity, but very definitely worth watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More striking titles. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018The best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made.\u2019 We watched this on Prime a couple of nights back. Weird film! The soundtrack is Henry Mancini, and is great. The opening titles, by Maurice Binder are strikingly good too. But the opening scene in a ski-resort, where Reggie Lampert (Tawdry Hipbone), rich socialite thinking of a divorce, … <\/p>\n

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