New 4K Restoration!

In CHARADE, Peter Stone and Stanley Donen’s masterpiece of wit and style, Audrey Hepburn plays Reggie Lampert, an American ex-pat in Europe who returns to Paris from vacation expecting to divorce her husband but instead finds that he has been murdered leaving her with nothing but mysteries. She is quickly informed by CIA suit Hamilton Bartholomew (Matthau) that her husband was killed in pursuit of a haul of Resistance funds stolen during the war. Everyone, including a trio of menacing ex-compatriots of her husband, think that Reggie must know where the money is. Finding her life in danger, she turns to a handsome stranger (Grant) for help, but she soon discovers that even he is not who he claims to be.

CHARADE boasts perhaps one of Hepburn’s best starring roles outside of Holly Golightly. As in Breakfast at Tiffanys, her inherent charm, intelligence, and general pluckiness combine to make Reggie a character that is not as helpless as she appears to be—nor as she thinks she is.
CHARADE is also one of the few films outside of Hitchcock that manages to successfully weaponize Cary Grant’s almost sinister amount of charisma. Is he a ladies’ man, a double-crossing murderer, a gallant, a thief, or just a good Samaritan trying to help a beautiful woman? Any option seems likely and adds to the wonderful frisson of this effervescent and darkly comedic thriller.

What better way to spend a Holiday season afternoon than by watching Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn trying to out-charm each other while Walter Matthau glowers from the shadows?