Charade

I have to admit that i thought this was the classic charade movie when i watch and i expected some great twist at the end or somewhat of a clever ending , instead i got lose my 1 1/2 hours of my life , so this movie was not in any way of a thriller but a mixture of three movies told without any certain objective , i am not saying that this is the worst movie i have ever seen (i have seen a lot of movies) but it was a very boring experience among the three stories the middle one was somewhat entertaining anyway i would not recommend you watching this movie it was that much of disappointing , sorry for my bad English and thank you for reading my review

1st watched 2/24/2002 - 6 out of 10(Dir-Roy Kellino): Whimsical and well-made trio of short films made by the husband & wife team of James and Pamela Mason. This movie plays out like a pet project of the couple which it probably was and shows how well-rounded an acting talent James Mason is. His wife isn't bad either which I'm surprised I haven't seen her in other things. The first short is kind of a murder mystery, the second is kind of a romantic drama, and the third is a sort of light comedy piece. They all are done well with the last being the weakest and the in-between sketches discussion between the husband and wife add kind of a commentary feel to the movie. On DVD with 1963(Charade) movie put out by Madacy Entertainment despite the lack of similarity between the two except the title.

What a cute movie! Real life spouses James and Pamela Mason are shown talking in their living room, discussing what it would be like to produce a movie. Pamela insists James is an actor at heart and he'll never produce anything, and James suggests, to make things easier, they gather three short stories for their make-believe film and act in it themselves. Then, they do!

Split into three vignettes, with scenes of the Masons in-between, Charade has something for everyone to love. If you like murder mysteries, rags-to-riches stories, romances, period pieces, French love, humor, drama, or suspense, this movie has it all. Plus, it's very cute to see them together with four different types of chemistry. You can only imagine how fun it was for them to create and film these love stories together. James Mason fans will adore seeing him "at home"-all that's missing are a couple dozen cats walking around!

When I saw that James Mason was both starring in and producing Charade I was very interested to check it out. It was interesting in that his wife was the female lead playing opposite him throughout all three shot films. I really wanted to like Charade, and I did to a certain degree, but generally speaking it was a rather disappointing viewing experience. For starters I felt that Pamela Mason has a limited acting range and was not able to convincingly adapt her talents to all three of the short films showcased here. She wasn't bad, but for me she was a weak link overall. Still, it was kind of interesting and if you're curious then check it out and see what you think.

I bought a video of this Charade months ago and was almost afraid to watch it after reading Sheridan Morley's comments about it in the biography he wrote about James Mason. (If Morley's account of Mason's life is to be believed, he threw opportunity for real Hollywood stardom away with both hands.) I was pleasantly surprised as it was a delightful film, perfect for the small screen. The stories were charmingly portrayed, the acting was fine, but I doubt Pamela would have had much of an acting career without James' coattails to ride on. I actually liked the last story the best. James as Jeeves was particularly funny to me. You could see him switch gears and Viola - there was Diello from Five Fingers.

Having said that, it is clear to me that James and Pamela really had a desire to be creative above any desire for James to be a Hollywood star. One of their early efforts was an independent film James and Pamela wrote, produced (with her ex-husband, Roy Kellino), starred in and distributed. It's called "I Met A Murderer" and despite the hokey title, it's very good.