This "Charade" Seems An Awful Lot Like Hitchcock to Me...

 Who do you trust?


The Story:

Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) is on vacation.  She is contemplating leaving her husband, and she bumps into a handsome stranger named Peter Joshua (Cary Grant).  She returns to Paris, to find her apartment empty, everything they owned is gone!  The police come calling, and inform her that her husband is dead!  At the funeral, several strange men (including James Coburn and George Kennedy) come by, just to make sure that he's dead.  When the CIA agent (Walter Matthau) informs Regina that her husband stole $250,000 from these men, and they want it back, Regina doesn't know what to do or who to trust.  Then when she finds out that Peter Joshua may not be who he claims to be, things begin to become even more confusing.

This movie is often mentioned as the greatest Hitchcock film that Hitchcock never made.

I'd have to say, that's a pretty close argument.

It follows very much in line with what Hitchcock was doing at the time.  You've got action, suspense, plot twists, mistaken identity and a little romance.

Throw in Cary Grant in one of his final roles just a few years removed from his turn in North by Northwest, and you can see the similarities are very striking between this and other Hitchcockian fare of the time period.

However, this film was directed by Stanley Donen, probably better known for his musicals (Singin' in the Rain) than for something more Hitchcockian in nature, but he does a fine job.  In fact, looking at his credits, the man made a ton of movies, yet to be fair, probably is completely under the radar as far as "Best Directors" in Hollywood.

The movie holds up rather nicely for being a 50 year old film, and I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it after owning it for probably over a decade, unwatched!
Who can you trust?


For those that don't own a copy, it is available for streamable viewing on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'm sure I'll see it again in the future... just not sure when. ;)

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 64 ~ His Girl Friday

For those that complained that apparently only good movies were made during my lifetime...

Well, you're half right.

The majority of the movies that are on this list are indeed released during my lifetime.  Can't help that, it's what I've seen, it's what I've enjoyed.

That said, I have seen plenty of movies released before I was...some even so old.... they are in black and white!

The horror!

Today marks the first entry on that list:  His Girl Friday.

It's the perfect example of a 30s/40s screwball romantic comedy.

In this one, ex-husband who is an editor realizes his best reporter, and ex-wife, is about to be married to someone else.  That simply won't do, because he still cares for her very much, and if only there was some way to keep her from getting married, perhaps the old sparks could rekindle...

And you get the idea.

Naturally, you need the consummate gentleman actor to play the lead, so cue Cary Grant.  One of the best actors of any generation, Cary Grant oozes suave awesomeness on the screen.  If any man can be half the gentleman that Grant portrayed onscreen, your romantic problems are pretty much over.

He is matched for intensity, and in many scenes, line for line with Rosalind Russell as his ex.  She can play reporter like nobody's business, and they both know it.

Thankfully, a top story keeps the two intertwined for a bit longer than she would prefer while she covers the story.

I don't think in this age of blogs and internet news that this story could be remade in modern times.  But for a paper, it's perfect.

The rapid-fire dialogue is a staple of the screwball comedies of the day.  I appreciated this first through the dialogue in "Moonlighting" and then discovered they didn't invent it when I began my trek down memory lane, Hollywood style.

If you're never seen it, give it a whirl.  You might just like it!