The Best Hitchcock Film He Didn't Make

[@yourmommmmm264]

when i tell you ive watched this film over 50 times im not lying its so good and thrilling and the plot twists are everything reggies wardrobe is to die for and cary and audreys chemistry is definitely there

[@CareelBay]

You’re not alone!

[@johannesbluemink4581]

I'll say 30 times, but I didn't count. Just enjoyed it. Great on every level.

[@PaulTesta]

Right there with you! First saw "Charade" back in the mid-70's. Seen it so many times since. Got to see it on the big screen, too. "Charade" is the movie that made me love classic movies.

[@brajeshsingh2391]

the great chemistry between grant and Hepburn was amazing. but the real star of the movie was its screenplay that blended comedy, mystery, and romance with twists after twists till the very end.

[@brajeshsingh2391]

the onlything lacking was the French inspector, probably a spoof on Poirot did not get to make an appearance in the end. but great.

[@PaulTesta]

Peter Stone! He also has writing credits for 2 other of my favorite films: "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" and "Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?"

[@coopaloopmex]

Saw it for the first time 60 years later and it definitely stands up. What a great film!

[@julia.24]

a great video on one of my favorite films! it's probably as well known for it's take on hitchcock as it is for its unique status as having been in the public domain since its release due to accidentally omitting the word "copyright" from the credits. it's nice to tell people one of my favorite movies is available watch for free, 100% legally.

[@andrewlkozar]

Wow! No wonder there are so many VHS versions haha

[@julia.24]

@@andrewlkozar that’s how i first figured it out when i realized i’d picked up two hugely different vhs copies from goodwill after seeing audrey hepburn on the cover!

[@enriquesinghjr]

Charade (even though far from a perfect movie) is my favorite movie of all time, it's very difficult to find much information about the making of the film, thank you for the video.

[@tlhuffman]

The Criterion version has a commentary track by Donen and Peter Stone that provides a lot of information about the making of the film.

[@PaulTesta]

I'm with you there: Favorite Movie of all Time. But I disagree; I do indeed think "Charade" is the perfect movie. I wouldn't change one thing about it. A masterpiece (imo).

[@greytoeimp]

Nice video! I've looked into this movie, myself. Gotta watch it!

[@AlonsoRules]

This movie is a screenplay and acting masterclass. Audrey Hepburn is stunning as always.

[@CaminoAir]

Excellent review and some very interesting points about how Grant's characters are written in both 'N.B.N' and 'Charade'. I do think the climax of Donen's film is effectively written and filmed (from an 'action' perspective), but it is shorter that the equivalent Hitchcock climax.

[@SarahRenz59]

To me, the humorous elements of Charade remind me of a Blake Edwards film. It's like Stanley Donen put North by Northwest and Breakfast at Tiffany's in a blender and came up with Charade.

[@acdragonrider]

3:27: Such a by-the-book Psycho shot.

[@cynthiaennis3107]

Enjoyed this clip! Thank you!

[@alexnavas2802]

Funny, Audrey almost worked with Hitchcock on 'No Bail for the Judge,' one of his unmade projects.

[@abhishekdev258]

Just watched it today. Loved it.

[@tlhuffman]

I am surprised that no one mentioned Peter Stone's follow-up to Charade, Mirage (1965), with Gregory Peck and Charade alums Walter Matthau and George Kennedy. I agree that Charade is he best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made, but Mirage is a contender for the second best.

[@bluecollarlit]

This was great! Thank you.

[@omargomez9594]

My Ranking The Best Hitchcock Films He Didn't Make: 6.- Charade (1963) 5.- Peeping Tom (1960) 4.- Gaslight (1944) 3.- Wait Until Dark (1967) 2.- Les diaboliques (1955) 1.- Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

[@Atom1990-m2j]

Brian de Palma is weeping.

[@omargomez9594]

Brian de Palma: Sisters (1973) Blow Out (1981) From Darío Argento: L'uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo (1970) The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971) 4 Mosche di velluto Grigio (1971) Tenebrae (1982)

[@garrettbays6942]

@@omargomez9594 you left out Brian De Palma's Obsession (1976) and Dressed to Kill (1980); maybe even Body Double (1984).

[@andrewlkozar]

Great list!!!

[@AliTaimurXV]

@@garrettbays6942 I completely agree, Obsession is an incredibly well done homage to Vertigo

[@nm2000]

Personally, I love Charade and have watched it dozens of times. The chemistry between Carr Grant and Audrey Hepburn is perfect and the dialogs as well as the plot are perhaps the best example of intelligent screen-play writing. The movie is funny, but at the same time does never rely on cheap gags. It’s intelligently written in the way how the viewer is tricked and kept in the dark. Different to Hitchcock, and I do appreciate this, the move doesn’t include any form of strong violence or sex, but only make very distinct allusions on the Sense level, which do however look harmless on the image level (also because of the existence of the Hayes Code). I simply love this movie because it’s funny, thrilling, mysterious and lovely at the same time; a movie which couldn’t be produced that why today. Also are Audrey Hepburn and Carry Grant Great actors with prior being simply gorgeous.

[@acdragonrider]

That peephole was such a homage to the famous Psycho shot

[@issybella2056]

Audrey Hepburn was a classy person.

[@KingOFuh]

New York Times, Screen: Audrey Hepburn and Grant in 'Charade': Comedy-Melodrama Is at the Music Hall, Production Abounds in Ghoulish Humor, By Bosley Crowther, December 6, 1963-SEEKERS of Christmas entertainment, might do well to think twice about "Charade," the major item on the holiday program that hurried into the Music Hall yesterday. For this romantic comedy melodrama, in which Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant skitter and scoot around Paris as participants in a cheating-cheaters chase, has so many grisly touches in it and runs to violence so many times the people bringing their youngsters to see the annual Nativity pageant and the Christmas stage show may blanch in horror when it comes on. Right off, before the main title, it starts with a corpse thrown off a train and landing, all battered and gory in Technicolor, right at the camera's feet. Then, a few minutes later, Miss Hepburn as the widow of said deceased is compelled to visit the morgue, where the business of viewing the body for purposes of identification is made a morbid joke. Next there's a scene in a funeral parlor, with the body in a coffin well exposed so that various mysterious characters, supposedly comedians, may come up and use it for gags. The first one, quite nervous, sneezes on it (this proves him allergic, someone notes). The second, disgusted, holds a mirror to its nose to see if it breathes. The third, a truculent fellow, sticks it with a pin, then stalks away contented when it doesn't jump. Sit tight. That's just the beginning. As the fable moves along, with Miss Hepburn and Mr. Grant locked in contention with these three characters, all seeking to find the $250,000 the deceased is supposed to have left behind, there are further such bits of ghoulish humor and chuckle-some morbidities. The sneezer ends up with his throat slashed, indubitably, right before your eyes. The pin-sticker turns out to be wearing a metal prosthetic "hand" with which he tries, in one brutal sequence, to skewer Mr. Grant and fling him off a roof. (That sequence, incidentally, is loaded with juicy agonies.) and the unpleasant fellow with the mirror is last seen trussed up and smothered, looking more ghastly than foolish, with his head in a cellophane bag. I tell you, this light-hearted picture is full of such gruesome violence. That much explained, however, there's a lot to be said for it as a fast-moving, urbane entertainment in the comedy-mystery vein. Peter Stone, a new chap, has written a screenplay that is packed with sudden twists, shocking gags, eccentric arrangements and occasionally bright and brittle lines. And Stanley Donen has diligently directed in a style that is somewhere between that of the screwball comedy of the nineteen-thirties and that of Alfred Hitchcock on a "North by Northwest" course. The players, too, have at it in a glib, polished, nonchalant way that clearly betrays their awareness of the film's howling implausibility. Miss Hepburn is cheerfully committed to a mood of how-nuts-can-you-be in an obviously comforting assortment of expensive Givenchy costumes, and Mr. Grant does everything from taking a shower without removing his suit to fighting with thugs, all with the blandness and the boredom of an old screwball comedy hand. Walter Matthau is tiredly amusing as a fellow at the American Embassy, and Ned Glass, George Kennedy and James Coburn are thoroughly disagreeable as the thugs. An interesting element in the picture is Henry Mancini's off-beat score, which makes the music a sardonic commentator. I'll go along with what it says. The Cast-CHARADE, screenplay by Peter Stone from a story by Mr. Stone and Marc Behm; produced and directed by Stanley Donen for Universal-International. At the Radio City, Music Hall, Avenue of the Americas and 49th Street. Running time: 114 minutes. Peter Joshua . . . . . Gary Grant; Regina Lambert . . . . . Audrey Hepburn; Hamilton Bartholomew . . . . . Walter Matthau; Tex Penthollow . . James Coburn; Herman Scobie . . . . . George Kennedy; Leopold Gideon . . . . . Ned Glass; Inspector Grandpierre . . . . . Jacques Marin; Felix . . . . . Paul Bonifas; Sylvie Gaudel . . . . . Dominique Minot; Jean-Louis Gaudet . . . . . Thomas Chelimsky

[@JamesTateWilson]

I love this film. Any other recommendations for Hithcock-like films?

[@adambomb51]

This movie is Amazing, and yes it truly reminds me of Hitch’s work it’s very similar

[@lorrainekaiyas1800]

Alfred Hitchcock was not allowed to film the American Embassy in North By Northwest. He hid in a carpet cleaning van across the street.

[@issybella2056]

That's correct, there was also controversy about filming on Mount Rushmore.

[@acdragonrider]

Did Hitchcock ever comment on the film?

[@franciscosalles7981]

Esse filme e seus personagens principais, como Cary Grant e Audrey Hepburn , eram pra ganhar o Oscar. Um filme à altura do grande Alfred Hitchcock, com todos os ingredientes, inclusive o amor. A Academia de Hollywood é muito injusta. Seguramente, se o Alfred estivesse vivo, iria se apaixonar pelo filme e elogiá-lo sobremaneira.

[@bakubaka4482]

Good video

[@poetcomic1]

You are only wrong on one thing. Hitchcock adored Audrey Hepburn and tried very hard to make a film with her called 'No Bail for the Judge'. The project never panned out but actually got quite far along.

[@fabiencoze9829]

Who can't love Audrey Hepburn ?? I mean , she was the sweetest one !

[@debbieking5171]

Audrey backed out of NO BAIL FOR THE JUDGE, because there was a scene she objected to.

[@poetcomic1]

@@debbieking5171 a rape scene, I believe.

[@PaulTesta]

​@@fabiencoze9829 My favorite actress!

[@thedexterbros]

Not the deep dive I was looking for, but a welcome one

[@franciscosalles7981]

Aqui diz que o cineasta Alfred nunca convidaria a Audrey pra protagonizar o filme, talvez porque viria nela uma atriz frágil, magra , provavelmente com pouco controle emocional. Ledo engano! Audrey, mocinha, suportou os horrores da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Era mulher genuinamente forte. E Alfred, se a conhecesse, iria se apaixonar por ela, convidando-a, na hora, para estrelar um de seus filmes.

[@JT-rx1eo]

Yep Charade is very Hitchcockian.

[@FS-qi1kj]

i honestly think charade is better than north by northwest and to catch a thief combined!

[@acdragonrider]

Definitely more than To catch a thief

[@andrewlkozar]

Yeah I agree

[@goutham6248]

Yess but this movie made from those two movies and few more.....those movie had to be made to inspire this one

[@JT-rx1eo]

Nope.

[@beritbranch2436]

3

[@passmovetheliverpoolfcpodc7065]

It's alright, not amazing

[@mrminioownz]

Diabolique, The Bride Wore Black, Obsession... all Hitchcockian films better than Charade.

[@quentinmackenzie4650]

mrminioownz Let's not forget High and Low!