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| Special Features: |
Widescreen anamorphic format
Chapter selection
Trailers
Cast bios and filmographies |
| Video Format: |
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
[SS-DL]
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| Languages: |
English (Dolby Digital 1.0) mono
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| Subtitles: |
None.
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| Captions: |
No
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| Casing: |
1-Disc Keep Case
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Regina Lambert (Audrey Hepburn) hates her secretive husband. She is going to divorce him when she returns from her vacation in the Alps. She doesn't know that someone murdered him and threw him off a train while she was on vacation.
While on vacation, Regina accidentally bumped into Peter Joshua (Cary Grant). After a serious bout of flirting, Peter promises to call Regina when both of them return to Paris. When Regina returns to Paris, she finds her apartment stripped bare, and that her husband was murdered. Regina also discovers, via Mr. Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) that her husband was responsible for the theft of a quarter million dollars in gold during WWII. Bartholomew works for the CIA. At the funeral of Regina's husband, three men walk in and out of the chapel. One goes as far as to stick a needle into the corpse of Mr. Lambert to make sure he was dead. Bartholomew shows Regina a photo of her husband during the war. He is with the three men from the funeral. The men are Tex (James Coburn), Scobie (George Kennedy) and Gideon (Ned Glass). Bartholomew convinces Regina that the three men think she has the stolen gold. The government wants if back. Regina can return the gold, or die. She isn't sure whom to trust. Peter Joshua re-enters the picture. He offers to help, but it soon becomes apparent that he is also working with the trio of henchmen. Or is he?
Stanley Donen's "Charade" was one of the top grossing films of 1963. The script by Peter Stone is filled with more twists and turns than an anaconda in heat. The film is a perfect blend of romance and mystery. "Charade" was one of the last great films from the old Hollywood studio system. Don't miss this one.
Great movie, fair picture and sound. No real extras. Great price!
Picture Quality: 6/10
"Charade" was filmed while JFK was still alive. VCI didn't have the movie restored before the DVD transfer was made. This disk has many artifacts. Most of them are black scratches from the projector. There are also some delineation problems. Many of the blacks look purple.
Sound Quality: 7/10
The soundtrack is in mono, but it doesn't really matter as the track isn't sound effects intensive. No loss of dialogue.
Menu: 3/10
Bland menu design. Easy to navigate.
Extra Features: 2/10
There are trailers for this movie and other VCI releases. The disk also includes bios for Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn plus selected filmographies.
The Final Word:
Great movie. I wish VCI had given it the treatment they did "The Mark." The price reflects the lack of restoration and extras. Worth the price of admission.
Rusty White
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