Movies

Cary Grant & Audrey Hepburn in CHARADE Saturday Morning at The Hi-Pointe

By Tom Stockman | May 5, 2015

“She batted them pretty little eyes at you, and you fell for it like an egg from a tall chicken!”

CHARADE plays at The Hi-Pointe Theater ( 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117) Saturday, May 9^th at 10:30am as part of their Classic Film Series

It’s been said that CHARADE (1963) is the best Alfred Hitchcock movie not directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Despite a notable body count and a few suspenseful moments, CHARADE is really a romantic comedy. Despite its intricate plot of double crosses, fake identities and a mad search for some missing loot in a picture-postcard Paris, it is designed to amuse. It is Hitchcock-lite; as directed by Stanley Donen, a man best known for directing films like SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, the film also is constructed like a musical, stringing together a few remarkable set pieces with a silly plot and clever banter. But most of all, CHARADE is an excuse to pair up Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, two experts in the field of romantic comedy. CHARADE sports not just pros Grant and Hepburn, but a batch of gifted character actors such as Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy and Ned Glass.

Ms Hepburn is simply marvelous as Regina ‘Reggie’ Lampert, a young woman, who upon finding out that her husband was killed on a European train, later discovers that three men (with whom he was once acquainted) are after a hidden fortune they believe that she has access to. The men (played by Kennedy, Coburn and Glass) ransack her apartment and send her threatening messages via telephone, causing her to seek help from Peter Joshua (Grant), a seemingly helpful man with whom Reggie soon falls in love with. However, an official by the name of Bartholomew (Matthau, in one of his early noteworthy performances) also offers to aid Reggie in helping to recover what the men are looking for — a large sum of money that he pilfered with them after WWII. The usual cat-and-mouse formula follows, but with Stanley Donen’s captivating direction and Henry Mancini’s breathless score, this film is anchored far above the standards of regular suspense-filled hokum. Key scenes include Coburn and Hepburn’s ‘fiery’ confrontation in the telephone booth, Grant chasing Hepburn through the subway station, the climax between Grant, Hepburn and Matthau in the theater, and the conclusion (Grant probably has more alias’ in this film that any other character in film history!). A witty and urbane romance-thriller with class that truly delivers. This is one film that doesn’t have to just rely on ‘star power’ to keep it going so don’t miss CHARADE plays as part of The Hi-Pointe Theater’s Saturday Morning Classic Film Series! Doors open at 10am CHARADE begins at 10:30! Admission is only $5!!