CHARADE

Genre: COMEDY / MYSTERY / ROMANCE / THRILLER

Release Dates: DECEMBER 5, 1963

Trailers: Windows Media

Official Websites: Audrey Hepburn fan site

Taglines:

You can expect the unexpected when they play…Charade

It’s a guessing game of mirth and mystery!

Please don’t tell who did what to whom!

Production Company: Universal Pictures

Crew: Stanley Donen (director and producer); Peter Stone (story and screenplay); Marc Behm (story); James H. Ware (associate producer)

Cast: Cary Grant as Peter Joshua, Audrey Hepburn as Regina ‘Reggie’Lampert, Walter Matthau as H. Bartholemew, James Coburn as Tex Panthollow, George Kennedy as Herman Scobie, Dominique Minot as Sylvie Gaudel, Ned Glass as Leopold W. Gideon, Jacques Marin as Insp. Edouard Grandpierre, Paul Bonifas as Mr. Felix (stamp dealer) and Thomas Chelimsky as Jean-Louis Gaudel

Studio: Universal Pictures

Synopsis

Regina Lambert (Audrey Hepburn) returns to Paris from a ski holiday in Switzerland to find that her husband has been murdered. She is later told by CIA agent Hamilton Bartholemew (Walter Matthau) that Mr. Lambert was one of five men who stole $250,000 in gold from the U.S. government during World War II, and the government wants it back. The money was not found among his possessions, and Regina can shed no light on its whereabouts. Later that day she is visited by Peter Joshua (Cary Grant), whom she had met briefly while on holiday. When her husband’s former partners in crime, who were double-crossed by Charles, start calling her looking for the money, Peter offers to help find it. Thus begins an elaborate charade in which nothing is what it seems to be.

Other Info:

Film Fetish trivia:
After filming, Cary Grant said, "All I want for Christmas is to make another movie with Audrey Hepburn." However, he unfortunately never had that opportunity.

The movie was made back-to-back with Paris – When It Sizzles. The scene with the Punch and Judy puppet stage appears in both films.

The young man in the Embassy elevator telling the story about the poker game is screenwriter Peter Stone – with the dubbed voice of director Stanley Donen.

The voice of the Marine in front of the Embassy is dubbed by screenwriter Peter Stone.

Cary Grant initially turned down the film, after which it was briefly considered a possible vehicle for Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood.

The character of Peter Joshua was named after Stanley Donen’s children, named Peter and Joshua.

This film is public domain due to the failure to put the then-required copyright notice in the released print.

In the scene where Audrey Hepburn is smoking a cigarette alone in her empty apartment and Cary Grant enters, the backs of his ears had to be covered with masking tape since the backlighting made them appear red.

According to Audrey Hepburn, the scene when she spills ice cream on Adam’s suit is based on a real-life accident where Hepburn spilled red wine over Cary Grant’s suit at a dinner party.