CHARADE

OUT 15 FEBRUARY / CERT PG / 113 MINS

Singin’ In The Rain co-director Stanley Donen’s Paris-set comedy-thriller is a slick, enchanting slice of sub-hitchcockian light entertainment with the dream team of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn at their glamourous, charismatic best. The smart plot revolves around Hepburn’s recently widowed translator, her murdered husband, and a fortune in wartime gold, as his old army buds put the frighteners on her to hand over the missing loot. Then there’s Grant’s mysterious stranger who switches identities at the drop of a hat and showers with his clothes on, and Walter Matthau’s embassy official, who are after the money, too. As the bodies pile up, Grant falls for Hepburn’s elegant, Givenchy-clad heroine aided by quippy dialogue and a lively Henry Mancini score. Donen balances the screwball humour, spy jinks and ageinappropriate romance with equal aplomb, playing to the strengths of his radiant stars and pictureperfect locations. Delightful.