Comment

Mar 23, 2017Nursebob rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
The plot has too many holes and reaches and some of the performances fall flat, but there is something about this undemanding crime caper that keeps you watching and smiling just the same. Maybe it’s the lush Oscar-nominated musical score by Henry Mancini, or the glittering Paris backdrops, or maybe the whole production is just riding on the sheer star power of its two leads? Despite a few rather operatic murders, a bit of mild suspense, and George Kennedy’s hammy performance as a growling one-armed thug, "Charade" is essentially a contrived May-December romantic comedy with Hepburn and Grant not quite convincing enough to suspend disbelief. But they’re pretty to look at (those Givenchy fashions!) and Charles Lang’s opulent cinematography cashes in on snow-capped alps and twinkling Parisian boulevards. Perhaps it’s fitting then that the film reaches its climax in an ornate theatre all done up in red and gold—but devoid of any audience. Great opening credits sequence though.