Social Distancing Movie Marathon - Charade
In the UK, we're in the midst of dealing with Covid-19, and although I'm not directly impacted I am spending a lot more time at home what with the cinemas and theatres (my favourite places!) being closed, and my employer has moved to full-time working from home.
On one hand this is great! No commuting, no annoying colleagues, no noisy office! Excellent. On the other, the only person I'm likely to see much of for a while is my partner, who is also working from home full-time. We're lucky that we are able to work comfortably in separate rooms, so we only see each other for coffee breaks and at lunchtime.
As a consequence, I have found myself watching more movies. And last night I came across this list from the British Film Institute (BFI) - 100 great films available to stream on Netflix and Prime (though they do cheat a little and include BFI Player): https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/100-great-films-streaming-netflix-amazon-prime
I'm going to have a shot at working my way through this list, and so to start with I watched the 1963 film Charade (Wikipedia link) last night on Prime.
Audrey Hepburn plays the wife of Charles, who she plans to divorce but on her return to their Paris apartment, finds the place empty. The local police tell her that her husband has been killed after selling off all their belongings but the money is nowhere to be seen.
She is then contacted by a CIA agent who claims that her husband was an agent and had stolen a lot of money from the US government, which was nowhere to be found. Cary Grant plays a mysterious but apparently helpful stranger 'Peter', who is a constant throughout the story and plays many different roles.
The rest of the movie is a story of double-crossing, lies within lies and stories on top of stories in an attempt to find the money.
I enjoyed this film a lot, the dialogue between Grant and Hepburn is sharp and fast, it looks great for a 50 year old film with well planned and executed shots set throughout Paris, and the story is interesting with twists and turns and a good mix of pacing throughout.
Definitely worth the time. I would like to have seen this at the cinema for the full effect but in these times, that is sadly not an option!
On one hand this is great! No commuting, no annoying colleagues, no noisy office! Excellent. On the other, the only person I'm likely to see much of for a while is my partner, who is also working from home full-time. We're lucky that we are able to work comfortably in separate rooms, so we only see each other for coffee breaks and at lunchtime.
As a consequence, I have found myself watching more movies. And last night I came across this list from the British Film Institute (BFI) - 100 great films available to stream on Netflix and Prime (though they do cheat a little and include BFI Player): https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/100-great-films-streaming-netflix-amazon-prime
I'm going to have a shot at working my way through this list, and so to start with I watched the 1963 film Charade (Wikipedia link) last night on Prime.
Audrey Hepburn plays the wife of Charles, who she plans to divorce but on her return to their Paris apartment, finds the place empty. The local police tell her that her husband has been killed after selling off all their belongings but the money is nowhere to be seen.
She is then contacted by a CIA agent who claims that her husband was an agent and had stolen a lot of money from the US government, which was nowhere to be found. Cary Grant plays a mysterious but apparently helpful stranger 'Peter', who is a constant throughout the story and plays many different roles.
The rest of the movie is a story of double-crossing, lies within lies and stories on top of stories in an attempt to find the money.
I enjoyed this film a lot, the dialogue between Grant and Hepburn is sharp and fast, it looks great for a 50 year old film with well planned and executed shots set throughout Paris, and the story is interesting with twists and turns and a good mix of pacing throughout.
Definitely worth the time. I would like to have seen this at the cinema for the full effect but in these times, that is sadly not an option!
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