Charade
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Synopsis
In this comedic thriller, a trio of crooks relentlessly pursue a young American, played by Audrey Hepburn in gorgeous Givenchy, through Paris in an attempt to recover the fortune her dead husband stole from them. The only person she can trust is Cary Grant’s suave, mysterious stranger. Director Stanley Donen goes deliciously dark for Charade, a glittering emblem of 1960s style and macabre wit.
Picture 9/10
The Criterion Collection upgrades another of their staple titles to 4K UHD, delivering Stanley Donen’s Charade on a triple-layer disc in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The 2160p/24hz ultra high-definition SDR presentation is sourced from a new restoration performed by Universal, created from the 35mm original camera negative. A standard dual-layer Blu-ray is also included, featuring a 1080p presentation of the film. This is the same disc from the 2010 Blu-ray release and uses that older master.
This now marks—at least!—the fifth disc release I’ve seen for the film, following Criterion’s two DVD editions, the one included with Universal's DVD release for the remake The Truth About Charlie, and Criterion's 2010 Blu-ray, with each one being iteratively better than the last (I haven’t seen Universal’s own Blu-ray edition). And now we come to the 4K release, and while there may be one area where the presentation could have been pushed a little further, it’s difficult to imagine it being significantly improved upon.
This is, by far, the best the film has ever looked, and it’s not even a close competition with any of the previous releases. Though I gave the earlier Blu-ray edition a high score (too high), it hasn’t aged particularly well. The dated aspects of that master are now far more apparent, with a color grade that feels questionable in hindsight and fairly poor compression. It was an improvement over the DVD, but largely because of the increase in resolution.
The film has now received a complete overhaul and the results are terrific, delivering a far more film-like texture than before. The new scan effortlessly picks up the film’s fairly heavy grain structure, while the encode renders it impeccably, even in darker scenes and the brighter highlights. Detail levels are extraordinarily high, with the fuzzy texture of some of Hepburn’s jackets standing out and the pinstripes on Grant’s jackets and robes doing the same. It’s virtually flawless in this regard, with detail only softening slightly during optical effects work, like rear projection shots and similar tricks. Still, even then, the drop is minor, and the restoration work has be vigorous, leaving virtually no damage behind.
The one thing that may have boosted the presentation ever so slightly, would have been the addition of HDR. There are a handful of scenes that probably would have shown off a bit, but even then I still have to admit the SDR presentation still performs remarkably well. Dynamic range can be surprisingly wide, best displayed during the rooftop fight midway through the film, where the darkened setting features illuminated signs in the background. Shadows also appear richer and more nuanced in the gradations than what is found on the Blu-ray, which could come off uch flatter. Black levels are fairly inky, while colors also receive a nice upgrade, dropping the magenta-leaning appearance of earlier releases in favor of a more natural photochemical look. It can be really stunning at times, with reds in particular looking wonderful.
After so many releases, each looking different from the last, this is the definitive presentation of this still absolutely fun film.
Charade - Screen Captures
Audio 7/10
The audio, presented once again in lossless single-channel monaural, also appears to have received a new restoration. I found this track a bit sharper overall, with Henry Mancini’s score sounding more dynamic. Dialogue remains clear throughout, with solid fidelity and a surprisingly respectable range for a mono presentation. It sounds quite good.
Extras 6/10
Frustratingly, Criterion has not revisited the supplements, and the only substantial feature we get—yet again—is the audio commentary featuring Donen and writer Peter Stone, recorded in 1999 for Criterion’s first DVD release. Thankfully, I still find it quite enjoyable, with the two, recorded together, sharing plenty of production notes and anecdotes, along with concerns they had over audiences potentially not understanding certain aspects of the film. One example involves one worrying viewers wouldn’t understand why James Coburn’s character places a mirror under a corpse’s nose. Both also discuss their careers to some degree, though Stone does so more frequently, even revealing that Charade originally began as a novel he was writing (later stating he wasn't terribly good at writing novels). There are also some interesting details about the casting. Though Grant and Hepburn were the first choices from the beginning, scheduling conflicts nearly resulted in Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood being cast in their place, with the production (originally set up at Columbia) eventually falling into turnaround before that could happen. Thankfully, things went back on track with Grant and Hepburn, and Universal picked it up.
The two also argue quite a bit, which is still amusing (at least for me). One particular moment comes when they debate whether the film’s major twist should be spoiled for the listening audience. Stone insists that anyone listening to the commentary has already seen the film, while Donen argues that may not necessarily be the case. Of course, by the time everything is settled, the scene in question ended long ago, so it's not even an issue anymore. I also enjoyed some of the playful jabs they throw at one another, such as when Stone claims he wrote a particular shot, Donen snapping, “You can't write a shot, Peter!” Again, I still find it a thoroughly entertaining commentary that delivers a wealth of information about the film’s production, and it remains one of my favorite filmmaker commentaries.
The supplements then close with the theatrical trailer (found on the standard Blu-ray) and an insert featuring the same essay on the film by Bruce Eder. And that’s it. Not even the text galleries found on the original DVD editions, which covered the careers of Donen and Stone, have been carried over. Some sort of academic supplement (whether an interview, visual essay, or another presentation entirely) would have been welcome, especially since I believe this remains the only Donen film Criterion has released.
Closing
It’s now nearly three decades since Criterion released the original DVD, so the lack of any meaningful new supplements is disappointing. Still, it’s somewhat easy to forgive the lack of new material considering the 4K presentation: it looks remarkable.
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