Day 57: Charade (1963)

One of my favorite films since childhood, Stanley Donen’s thriller/comedy “Charade,” starring the amazing duo of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, is cinema at its most fun. From the dazzling opening title sequence by Maurice Binder to the chilling edge-of-your-seat climax in the streets of Paris, “Charade” makes such an amazing cocktail of comedy and dark thrills that the audience can’t help but watch, unsure if they will be laughing with delight or yelping in surprise by the next scene.

In “Charade,” we find Regina “Reggie” Lampert (Hepburn), an unhappy but well off woman, who has recently decided to divorce her husband Charles- a man with too many secrets. But, before Reggie can break the news, Charles winds up murdered and thrown off a train, leaving her with nothing but the contents in his pockets.

Soon, she is called to the U.S. Embassy and CIA agent Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) informs her that Charles was involved in a theft during World War II along with fellow soliders Charles, “Tex” Panthollow (James Coburn), Herman Scobie, Leopold W. Gideon and Carson Dyle. According to Bartholomew, the team went behind enemy lines to deliver $250,000 in gold to the French Resistance, but, instead, buried it and planned to reclaim it after the war.

Though Dyle was wounded by the enemy during the mission and left to die, the rest got home safely, only to have Charles double-cross them and sell the gold on his own. This, of course, is why he was killed, but, to the U.S. government’s knowledge, the money still remains missing and Bartholomew thinks Reggie might unknowingly hold the key to answering the question of its location.

Unsure of what to do or how to help, Reggie stays in Paris and finds solace in Peter Joshua (Grant), someone she recently met on holiday. Though she tries to take her mind off the seemingly unsolvable mystery, danger soon comes to Reggie’s door in the form of Charles’ ex-comrades-in-arms, Panthollow, Scobie, and Gideon, who want the gold just as bad as the government and will go farther to get it.

“Charade” is a thrill ride of a film but differentiates itself from the typical story of the genre by being heavily steeped in goofy humor at the very same time. Written by Peter Stone, “Charade’s” script should be considered the textbook on how to transition scenes from mood to mood. With “Charade,” Stone gives the audience a sense of constriction in the tense action scenes, but then allows for comedic release soon after, which further draws the audience into the story.

A classic example of this would be when Cary Grant’s Peter Joshua fights the brute of a man Herman Scobie on top of a building and almost falls to his death. While this leads to tension, the very next scene gives release as Peter cleans up in Reggie’s hotel room by showering in his clothes- getting her and the audience to laugh outright. Though, just when all seems happy once again, Reggie gets an chilling call on the phone that declares that Peter might not be who he says he is and the audience’s constriction beautifully returns.

“Charade” is an certainly an amazing film with a grace we rarely, if ever, see nowadays in cinema and an all-star cast that is certainly worth their weight in stolen military gold.

To learn more about “Charade,” check out Criterion’s page here.

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