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Borrowing a page from the Hitchcock playbook, Stanley Donen's "Charade" comes across as Hitchcock-lite and that's not a bad thing. Writer Peter Stone uses such Hitchcock classics as "Suspicion", "Notorious", "North by Northwest" and "To Catch a Thief" as a template to build his clever, witty suspense film on. Donen's deft, witty direction manages to recall Hitchcock without aping his style. After "Psycho" Hitchcock stopped making films like this moving on to "The Birds", "Frenzy" and much lesser fair so its no surprise that Donen's film became as popular as it did. While this isn't Donen's best film ("Singing in the Rain" still tops the list for me), it's a pleasant diversion. ***

Stone's screenplay recalls Hitchcock collaborators Ernest Lehman and John Michael Hayes with its rapid fire witty dialogue and marvelous set pieces throughout Paris. It's clear that Stone's work was inspired by among the best of Hitch's collaborators but he creates a compelling, suspenseful story that more than stands on its own. Ironically, Stone would never make a film with Hitch which is a pity as, based on this screenplay, they would have been made for each other in terms of subject matter and writing style. ***

When Regina Lampert's (Hepburn) cad of a husband is murdered, she suddenly becomes the center of interest for crooks (Mattheau, Kennedy and Coburn) interested in obtaining the secret fortune her soon-to-be ex-husband squirreled away. She has a guardian angel in the form of Peter Joshua (Grant) who happens to always be at the right place at the right time. Why these men pursue her and Joshua's motivation in helping her become the heart and soul of this suspense thriller. ---

The commentary track sparkles standing out as the jewel in this finely detailed crown. With the witty commentary track by director Donen and the late Stone, fans will get ample background information on the film, a number of amusing stories about the making of the film and interaction between the various cast members. Sadly, almost all the original cast is now deceased (it's a pity this project wasn't started sooner with Coburn was still around as his comments would have been, no doubt, witty). ***

Stone shares in his reminesence the story about how the original screenplay was rejected by all the major studios. Ultimately, he rewrote it as a novel and serialized it in a popular magazine. The raves it drew piqued Hollywood's interest and a bidding war for the screenplay ensued. Donen had always wanted to do something in the Hitchcock vein and found "Charade" original and well written enough to pursue. ---