Charade

“Do you know what's wrong with you?” asks Audrey Hepburn's gamine Regina Lampert of Cary Grant's dapper but mysterious Peter Joshua. When he takes the bait and says no, she simply purrs: “Nothing!” The same could be said of Stanley Donen's sleek and chic 1963 Parisian escapade, a lightweight but deftly sophisticated romantic thriller starring Grant as a shady but oh-so-charming fellow with an ever-shifting identity who turns up in the life of newly widowed Hepburn just as she learns from a rumpled American (Walter Matthau) in the consulate's office that her dead husband was a crook. James Coburn, George Kennedy, and Ned Glass play the trio of unsavory thugs who are after the fortune that the deceased stole from them and hid before dying. The lively script is full of twists and feints, but the film's appeal has less to do with the plot than the stars. Grant and Hepburn have the chemistry of a champagne cocktail—light, bubbly, smooth, and elegant—as they trade bon mots in flirtatious verbal volleys and lightly quip in the face of danger. Like Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest, Charade displays the visual grace of a director who can turn action into dance, and it's one of Hollywood's most beloved romantic thrillers. Criterion offers a newly remastered definitive edition here on Blu-ray, with extras including a 1999 audio commentary by Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone, and a booklet with an essay by film historian Bruce Eder. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)[DVD Review—Mar. 13, 2012—Universal, 114 min., not rated, $14.98—Making its latest appearance on DVD, 1963's Charade sports a great transfer and Dolby Digital mono sound. DVD extras include two segments on Universal's century-long history—“The Carl Laemmle Era” (9 min.) and “The Lew Wasserman Era” (9 min.)—a bonus digital copy of the film, and a trailer. Bottom line: if you don't already own the superior Criterion edition, this budget-priced release of Donen's classic is highly recommended.]