Charade (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

The best Alfred Hitchcock movie Alfred Hitchcock never made. Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn make the greatest duo that is a dark comedy/mystery set in Paris. There are great twists and turns - very funny movie.

Great movie. Wish it was 4k, but picture and sound look great. Get this Criterion edition, it's the best available at this time, in my opinion.

Plot was quick to get rolling, and had so many twists and turns. Great story arc. Not predictable, which is something I greatly appreciate.

Just replacing DVD copy with Blu Ray copy of a movie I enjoyed. This is a great movie with an outstanding cast.

Though Cary Grant was at the end of his career at this point, it's clear why studios tried coaxing him out of retirement for decades more. He was still able to deliver as well as he had thirty years before. Yes it's a bit creepy from a 21st century worldview how he chases after a woman 25 years his junior, but getting past that both Grant and Hepburn are great costars. Matthau plays his role well pulling Hepburn's character along. Coburn's "cowboy" is a bit over the top and vaudevillian, but maybe that's how the screenwriter envisioned him. It just seems out of place amidst Coburn's typical successful roles. Kennedy delivers a great job as a creepy homicidal man and Glass likewise does a great job with his mousy character.If you like Grant's mystery and comedy films then you'll like this one where he rolls both into a single performance. He's consistently funny on screen and handles the role of thriller character well. Hepburn was enjoyable to watch as well in her sweet and unassuming heroine role. However, it would've been great to see her play a more mischevous and cunning character. She almost seemed underdeveloped as the man-chasing innocent while everyone else manipulated the world around her. That's neither here nor there. Her performance as written for her was great.Bottom-line: Add this film to an afternoon marathon of thrillers/crime/suspense (whatever you want to call them). It's well-written and well-performed.

I saw this movie on television years ago and I just recently bought it. The acting is great. The story is great. The only criticism I have is that there were times I thought Audrey Hepburn's character acted a little too helpless. Besides that, the movie is very well acted and a good buy for those who like a good story along with good acting.

Makes the best just because present or a stocking stuffer.This time I purchased it for a foreign friend who loves Audrey but has never experienced the fantastic, witty, and very entertaining commentary by the Director and the Screenwriter (recorded by Criterion in 1999 especially for this edition). Never fails to hit the spot!

Audrey Hepburn is, oh, so, charming...and looks so very young. Cary Grant is so, ....so Cary Grant....oh, so charming...but looks like a middle aged man. Soon he was to feel too old to play against a young woman at all...but here he clearly knows his age and, he or the Director (Donen), most likely both agreeing, let him play the middle aged man who can't resist the lure of a woman who could be his youngest daughter. It works, but just barely, thanks to the two Stars and the emphasis on the interaction between the two and the four strong supporting players. Everyone is in top form with light comedy, romance and occasional violence providing just the right mix for their acting strengths to emerge and the film to be well balanced.The story is a simple one: during the second World War, money intended to provide for military purposes has been stolen by five soldiers. The film opens with the death of the second one and, briefly thereafter, with our meeting his widow, Hepburn, who knows nothing about his affairs. The search then begins among the three remaining soldiers, Grant, who possesses a shadowy background, and Mathieu, a CIA administrator, to find the money her husband is thought to have stolen from its hiding place.Donen keeps things moving with unexpected stumbling blocks in the Hepburn-Grant relationship and the suspicions and reactions of the remaining searchers for the stolen money.I did not find the appeal to be weakened despite having seen the picture when it came out (1962) and periodically since. Certainly older viewers will still enjoy it, about younger ones I cannot guess.