Movie – Charade
Score : 7/10
Year : 1963
Country: USA
Language: English (some French and a tad German)
Duration: 1h54
Charade is one of those movies that don't fit in one particular genre ; it's part spy thriller, part romantic comedy, and quite random at times.
Audrey Hepburn (whom we know is Belgian) plays Regina Lampert, an American based in Paris. Returning home after a holiday, she finds herself pursued by several men, who want her late husband's fortune.
I love Charade's opening titles*, with psychedelic imagery we come to love from the 1960's, and Henry Mancini's music for it is just brilliant. (you can see them in the image I chose above). (* The link isn't for piracy but to promote this piece of art).
Charade depicts several quick murder scenes, not overly graphic, which is good for my sensitivities. However, one of these scenes is just silly and reduces the overall appreciation of the movie, because the other murders have been more original and rather well made - with some dark humour. This last one just felt like an afterthought, and it's a shame.
Charade also has plain, regular humour, for the romantic comedy aspect, and I love most of the witty dialogues. Some of the characters' names add to the humour, such as inspecteur Grandpierre (= Big Stone, and which sounds like Grand-Père = grand-father).
There are some action scenes, that aren't too violent either, and one fight scene is quite nicely done as two characters fight in a messy way, not a super-hero one.
I cannot really comment the cinematography, as most happens indoors.
I don't watch one specific scene, when Regina meets someone in the market. It lasts about 30-40 seconds, about 43-44 minutes into the movie (there will be dialogue to announce it). It's a grotesque scene that isn't veg-friendly.
I didn't like at all this scene with the puppets ; even sillier than the oddly executed death scene, but also due to the spousal violence it depicted. (I hid the person with Audrey/Regina so you'll have to find out).
Nor a scene with a very silly game, but did like this funny scene with a character taking a fully-clothed shower. One of the best scenes, however, is the one in a church, during a funeral ; it's actually both hilarious and well executed.
There are some really random elements in Charade, which reduce the overall feel for a great movie that it could've been. Still, it's quite entertaining, despite it, and oh, despite a few dialogues that mark 1960's societal context...
The acting is alright, in view of the period the film was made in, but it's off course not in such a high quality that one forgets this is a casting portraying characters.
It's nonetheless quite entertaining!
Casting : Audrey Hepburn, Dominique Minot, Ned Glass, Jacques Marin, Walter Matthau, Cary Grant, James Coburn, George Kennedy, et al.
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Charade, in the media
There are far too many editions to compare, so I'll discuss my own dvd experience and a bit of a future purchase with bluray editions.
Our first dvd, EAN 3700173216327, is a zone 2, that I paid only 0,54 €, years ago. I'm not even sure when it was officially released as I have contradictory information, nor if it's a Belgian or French edition. Either way, the french subtitles are forced as they are embedded into the image, which is already narrowed down with black lines on top and the bottom. Instead of the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, we get 1.33:1 !
The sound is quite muffled and image quality is abysmal, as it looks like the movie seen through a couple sheets of thin paper. Thus, all scenes are a somewhat hazy. Contrasts are awful and colors suffer, looking drab.
When you pop the disc in, there is a 10 seconds annoying add that you cannot skip, before you end on an animated menu. It's very rudimentary, but the music doesn't sound anything at all from the movie. In fact, clicking on scene access plays that x-mas tune from it's a wonderful life...which is extra odd, because it's never played once here, and that Charade doesn't even ever mention christmas - even though it had been released in December 1963.
There are only 10 chapters, which you can access by pressing next whilst viewing, or selecting in this menu.
The bonus material has nothing to do with this movie. The 28 minutes documentary about Cary Grant & Howard Hawks, for instance, has only the link through Cary Grant, but it's not about Charade.
Last night, we watched a much hier quality DVD, the highest possible - and is only beatable by the blurays. I'm talking about Region 1, Criterion Collection dvd. EAN 037429194928.
Upon ordering, I wasn't sure if I was getting the first pressing, or the second, and lucked out as it was the second. If you want to know more about that, I'll let you read dvdbeaver's review and only discuss the following :
The image is so much superior to the previous dvd I reviewed above. Contrast may not be at best, but since colors and clarity are really well rendered, I cannot complain that it's not HD - for which I didn't pay the mere 5€ the bargain was for this Criterion DVD.
The subtitles (English SDH) are only optional, and the image has been enhanced to 16:9 widescreen tv's, which is a tremendous improvement ! The original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is respected.
Though the sound is still mono, it has been cleaned up and is so much clearer, I could hear the dialogues and didn't have to strain my ears.
The movie is divided into 22 chapters, and these are actually named in the dvd booklet. (much better than the mere 10 in EAN 3700173216327)
The only noteworthy bonus material may be the audio commentary, with the direct and screenwriter. I haven't listened to it, so I cannot tell you how good this would be.
The films of Stanley Donen, and Peter Stone's carrer highlights are texts, with a few photos, but nothing exhaustive, and easily replaced by imdb's pages (linked far above, at the description of this movie) and the trailer can be found anywhere - I don't tend to watch, as many of that period would spoil too much.
I might tell you of other editions, once I gather information of the best bonus materials to expect.
As for image quality, bluray editions of this movie seem all to be grand, although I wouldn't buy the spanish one (I only ever read negative comments on those), nor the italian one which seems to have the shorter, 4% PAL sped duration - very odd in itself, as I thought BD's didn't have this problem...
USA and UK, even France have either BD alone or BD+DVD editions, all with an HD image, and usually 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound.
A word, however, on the Criterion BD edition : it's region-locked to A, so you cannot expect it to function elsewhere, unless you have a multi-region BD player, and that doesn't seem to really exist in affordable prices).
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