Music and Movie Monday ~ Charade

Turner Classic Movie channel aired the 1963 movie Charade last week. We watched, both of us suspecting we must have seen it back in the day, but later and surprisingly both decided we must have let it slip past us somehow. Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn together in a movie could never be boring - I adored Cary Grant in my adolescence and early teens, and have always liked Audrey, especially enjoying her wonderful wardrobes of Givenchy outfits - she wore 'em so well!

Charade didn't disappoint, except in a bit of hammy over-acting by actors playing two of a trio of villains, stars who we know can do a whole lot better: James Coburn and George Kennedy. The film was, I now understand, a kind of homage to the classic Alfred Hitchcock style by director Stanley Donen, carried out tongue in cheek, not quite in all-out spoof mode, but getting there. Spoofing as a polished film genre hadn't quite been perfected in 1963...The Pink Panther was another early spoof-related movie from the same year.

For a very good detailed outline of Charade's story by an obvious fan, including lots of photographs, take a look at The Blonde at the Film blog HERE. A review from a writer who saw some flaws in the film, though still enjoyed it, is at The Film Sufi website HERE.


The film's Oscar nominated theme song Charade is a lovely Parisian waltz melody composed by Henry Mancini, with lyrics added by Johnny Mercer - what a wonderful collaboration! I would pronounce charade "charahde", Brit-style, so have to adjust to the American in order to appreciate the rhyming of these lyrics.

When we played our charade
We were like children posing
Playing at games, acting out names
Guessing the parts we played

Oh what a hit we made
We came on next to closing
Best on the bill, lovers until
Love left the masquerade

Fate seemed to pull the strings
I turned and you were gone
While from the darkened wings
The music box played on

Sad little serenade
Song of my heart's composing
I hear it still, I always will
Best on the bill
Charade

The original with opening credit images:

Julie London's quiet, sexy version:

And, as with any well constructed melody Charade easily lends itself to a wee bit of jazz interpretation, which I've come to much appreciate, having lived with an avid jazz fan for quite some time now....it rubs off now and then! The following two versions are by lesser known vocalists and musicians. I like them both - a lot.

Below - by a Norwegian vocalist, Ingar Kristiansen, a live performance at Rockefeller Music Hall, Oslo, from a concert titled The Sinatra Songbook. Oddly, though, I can't trace that Sinatra ever recorded Charade, but it's possible he did sing it in concert at some point. Husband suspects that Sinatra gave it a miss on his albums because Andy Williams' version had been such a huge hit...The Guv' (bless 'im) could never have put up with being just an also ran!