This certainly was a film with twists upon twists and I am not sure how I will make a good enough summary and not spoil the plot completely. This is one of those movies where everything is a spoiler and there are so many twists upon twists that honestly if you figure out the plot and the murderer before the end I applaud you.
Summary:
Regina “Reggie” Lambert is on holiday in the alps with her friend Sylvie and she tells her that she is divorcing her husband Charles. One day she meets Peter Joshua, an American and the two instantly begin a bantering relationship. Charles suddenly turns up dead and apparently was mixed up in some mysterious things as strange men come to his funeral. Soon it becomes clear that there are lives at stake for the sum of $250,000 and no one is safe.
It was utterly wonderful to see Audrey Hepburn as Reggie in such a role as this, having known her mostly from her iconic roles in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Sabrina (1954) and all that. Here she takes a turn in to suspense, adding much needed levity and power in pursuing both the murderer as well as Cary Grant. There is an inner strength in her throughout, but she is still vulnerable as any one would be in the situation and every time Cary Grant’s character mentions the age difference between them and how she is a “child” she retorts back. If Hitchcock hadn’t had a preference to blonde’s she would have been a perfect pick in any movie he’d make. She is certainly stylish in this movie, but in a normal 60s way without all the glamour usually attached to her. Her clothes look nice to wear and seem like one would actually wear on a day to day bases at the time. Her clothes may be nice, but the story is more triumphant than the clothing.
What can I say about Cary Grant? He after all plays himself; suave, witty, heroic, punches others and woos the heroine. Though in this case it works and how he is throws one off on all the information that is given at quick succession about him. He charms us just like he does Reggie and it works since it is Cary Grant after all.
The film is very contemporary of the time, full on the 60s with from its opening credits to its story. The world is our world, fully lived in with mis-matched clothes, cluster in the corners, life outside the frame of the characters though they have their own story going on that everyone else is unaware of. The world lives and breathes, nothing seems staged and that adds to the atmosphere of this suspenseful story where nothing is like it appears.
I fully recommend watching this movie if you get your hands on it. If not for the story then for the late and great Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant who work together quite well, though never before seeing this movie imagined them having been in the same movie, let alone the same frame.
Thank you for reading!
The Little Corner 