"You fell for her like an egg from a tall chicken"
Beginning credits play a Henry Mancini's score and we are swept back to the sixties.
The opening scene is of a metro train rolling down the track in Europe. A body is tossed off. Then a flash to a ski resort where a hand with a Luger-Parabelum is being lowered and aimed directly between Reggie's (Audrey Hepburn) eyes.
Turns out that the body from the train was that of Reggie's husband, Charles Lambert. At the funeral a strange selection of sinister characters one by one check to be sure Charles is really deceased.
Looks like Charles left with something of theirs and they want it back. Everyone except Reggie knows that she has it. In the process of retrieval Carry Grant appears to be helping her; however his name and occupation seems to change periodically, hence the title "Charade."
Many people will be dispatched in unique and creative ways. What is everyone after and will Reggie find it before it is too late for her?
The criterion edition has a voiceover track of director Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone discussing the film. Most of it sounds like rattling. However once in a while there is a useful piece of information. Such as the gloved hand with the Luger in the beginning scene was a man's hand so you would not suspect the next scene.
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