Continuity mistake: When James Coburn is about to leave the phone booth where he's been lighting matches, the number of matches he leaves on the top of the phone changes between shots.
Charade (1963)
Directed by: Stanley Donen
Starring: Walter Matthau, Cary Grant, James Coburn, Audrey Hepburn
Continuity mistake: Charlie's fingers, when he is dead, change positions when suspects arrive for his funeral. (00:17:00 - 00:19:00)
Continuity mistake: When the French inspector is interrogating Audrey Hepburn, he asks "Why did he want to leave France?". The shot changes to the back of the inspector and Audrey replies, "Leave? No." Then the inspector makes a rough movement with his body and head to his right, but the movement is brusquely cut and replaced by a front shot where he is sitting perfectly still, as he was doing in similar previous front shots.
Trivia: Peter Joshua was named after Director Stanley Donen's two sons, Peter and Joshua.
Sylvie: It is infuriating that your unhappiness does not turn to fat!
Reggie Lampert: I already know an awful lot of people, and until one of them dies I couldn't possibly meet anyone else.
Peter Joshua: Well, if anyone goes on the critical list, let me know.
Reggie Lampert: Well, wasn't it Shakespeare that said, "When strangers do meet in far off lands, they should e'er long see each other again"?
Peter Joshua: Shakespeare never said that!
Reggie Lampert: How do you know?
Peter Joshua: It's terrible. You just made it up.
Question: In the scene where Tex is terrorizing Reggie by lighting matches very close to her face, why didn't she just blow them out? This scene has always been a pet peeve of mine in an otherwise fabulous movie.
Question: When the Inspector said "We discovered your husband's body lying next to the tracks," I assumed that meant no one actually saw Dyle toss Lampert off the train. And since Lampert was killed in his pajamas before daylight, I assumed that meant Dyle first confronted him in his compartment. So after the murder was committed but before it was discovered, why didn't Dyle retrieve the travel bag, or at least take the agenda, letter and key with him?
Answer: Dyle didn't know that what he was looking for was inside the travel bag. Lampert had used the stolen gold to buy the rare and valuable collector stamps. He then affixed them to the envelope to look like ordinary postage. Dyle, who was impersonating a government investigator, was also letting Reggie (Dyle's widow) figure things out about the key, letter, etc. As Lambert's widow, she had access to her late husbands property and, eventually, would have unwittingly led Dyle to what he sought.
Question: When Audrey Hepburn confronts Cary Grant by saying that Carson Dyle is dead, shouldn't he have asked her how she knew that fact? (00:50:57)
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Answer: Blowing out the matches would only incite Tex to act even more aggressively and threateningly. Reggie knows he is not intending to hurt her and only wants to frighten her so she will cooperate in finding the money. Even though she is scared, it's wiser to remain as passive as possible.
raywest ★