MovieChat Forums > Charade (1963) Discussion > Super movie with 4 holes

Super movie with 4 holes

posted 12 years ago by superdavey
44 replies | jump to latest

I love this film. Have watched it recently for the 3rd time and still enjoy it.

But 4 things don't make sense to me:

1) If Charlie stole $250,000 in 45, how does he still have that much several years later, given the lifestyle he and Audrey had. They obviously had been living off that money, and interest rates weren't THAT high.

2) Why didn't he have any clothes with him on his train trip?

3) Tex writes "Dyle" on the carpet in perfectly formed letters after he was strangled? Looked like he was training for a 5th grade legibility test.

4) Charlie's last "appointment" was at the street-fair, presumably to buy the stamps that he took with him on his trip. How is it that the stamp-guy was so honored to have them for the short time he did? If Charlie didn't buy them from him in the first place, what was the significance of him going down there before he left?

These flaws in logic do not detract significantly from my enjoyment of this movie. Great film that should be high on any film-buff's list.

[–] drystyx 11 years ago

Audrey ain't a hole. Maybe the other three are, though, but I can only remember two other women with screen time, the kid's mom and the big elderly woman Cary did the apple thing with. Even if they were holes, that's only two.

Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 11 years ago

# 2: the clothes could have been stolen. Maybe another suitcase which Dyle took with him, thinking that maybe some money would be in it. No one else needed to know anything about it. Even Mrs. Lampert had no idea about her hubby's activities, so she wouldn't have known.

# 3: as someone else pointed out here, Dyle himself could have written the name "DYLE" on the carpet so that Mrs. Lampert would be sure that Cruikshank committed the crime.

Excellent movie, BTW!

~~
JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 11 years ago

I'm watching this now (probably my 10th viewing or something). I just noticed a minor plot hole...or else the scriptwriters made a mistake. About half an hour before the movie ends, Tex calls Cary Grant's character and addresses him as Dyle. Why would he do that? Tex assumed that Dyle was dead. He had no reason to think that there was any connection between Carson Dyle and Grant's character.

~~
JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen

[–] murph24 11 years ago

Once again, the phone booth sequence at the American Express office explains why Scobie (and later Tex) are addressing Cary Grant's character as "Dyle." He tells Audrey Hepburn that he's with these 3 guys because he's Carson Dyle's brother and he's helping them recover the money - or so they think. But he confesses to her that he doesn't trust them at all.

However, the scene DOES make it clear that Tex, Scobie and Gideon are under the impression (the mistaken impression, as it turns out) that Grant is Carson Dyle's brother.

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 11 years ago

I'll look out for that the next time I watch the film. It's something that didn't even cross my mind until I watched it a few days ago. Very minor issue.

Cary Gran't character did assume that those fellows had no idea that Carson Dyle had no brother. A risky assumption.

~~
JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen

[–] yurenchu 10 years ago

Cary Gran't character did assume that those fellows had no idea that Carson Dyle had no brother. A risky assumption.

Maybe Carson Dyle did have a brother and Cary Grant's character knew about him. And the real Carson Dyle (Mr. Bartholomew) merely lied about it to Regina so that Regina would be suspicious of Cary Grant and only trust Mr. Bartholomew.

______
Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
https://y2u.be/VI57QHL6ge0

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 10 years ago

Hmm...good point. That's the most logical explanation.

~~
💕 JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen 👍

[–] louiseculmer 10 years ago

3. Tex isn't strangled. He's suffocated with a plastic bag over his head. He would have had time to write dyle.

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 9 years ago

I've been watching this film a lot lately. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Carson Dyle is the one who wrote "Dyle" next to the murder victim.

For one thing, Tex wouldn't have printed it so neatly and carefully. Also, to Tex's knowledge, there were two men named Dyle associated with the case - Carson Dyle and Alexander Dyle. For years, he assumed that Carson was dead. Suddenly Carson shows up to murder him. He would have to make it clear that Carson's the one who did it. So he would likely start to write "Carson" rather than "Dyle", and it would probably be quite sloppy.

Carson Dyle knew that no one would suspect him because he is known to be dead. He also knew that there was someone else associated with Reggie who was calling himself Dyle. So the logical thing for him to do was to write the name Dyle so that all suspicion would go towards Cary Grant's character. What he didn't know was that Cruikshank was assigned to solve the case & get the money back to the government. As soon as Cruikshank found out that the name Dyle was written next to the victim, he could only draw one conclusion. He knew that HE hadn't done it, so only Carson Dyle could have. Chances are that the people at the Embassy already suspected from the start that Carson Dyle was still alive. Cruikshank might have suspected that Dyle got in touch with Reggie, but couldn't prove it.

Just my updated theory. 

~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen 🎇

[–] CelluloidDog 9 years ago

Wow! Lots of confused answers to your question.

1. You are correct. Someone calculated it would be $3.1M in 2012 money. Oops!!! But we can assume the movie takes place in 1963. That is incompatible with buying $250K of stamps so in reality if nothing was spent, the 1945 money would have been $425K (calculated from inflation 1945-1963). If he had saved all the money, that's what it would be OR if he spent some of it, it wouldn't be $250K necessarily. Could be only $100K left.

IN RESPONSE TO OTHER QUESTIONS OTHER PEOPLE POSE:
It actually makes no sense to buy the stamps to hide the money in plain sight. Nice plot. Maybe better to put in a foreign bank like in Switzerland. The stamps are very rare and it's silly that the people never noticed. You do notice the stamps on a letter. And the French one worth $100K is so unusual it doesn't look like a stamp. The Hawaiian stamp is quite famous. So it wasn't a good choice to buy stamps.

It seems very very strange that Reggie would fall in love with a guy who lies all the time. Especially with all the murders around. Acting was quite poor and out of place. Still the movie is fun with so many twists. But in reality, lots of bad acting by Audrey, Cary, James Coburn and George Kennedy in particular. None were convincing in their roles. But often, the movie is a vehicle for the major stars (Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant) so acting is secondary. People just want to see them act as the stereotype (e.g, Cary is always a suave, comedic handsome figure).

Some people suggest that the guys should know Carson Dyle since they call Cary Grant Dyle. But Cary wasn't pretending to be Carson Dyle as people suggested. He was actually pretending to be Dyle's brother. So Lee Marvin thought he was Dyle's brother. When Lee saw the real Dyle (Matthau), he caught on.

So yes, plenty of holes...

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 9 years ago

Plenty of plot holes, but still a fun movie.

I love the storyline, the music, the clothes, and yes...the acting. All the actors did a really good job IMHO.

~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen 🎇

[–] schwapj 9 years ago

I have a little confession, and seemingly out of the mainstream: Audrey Hepburn is a dreadful actor. No range, no emotion, no believability. Cute as a button, of course. I'm surprised so many people think she's talented, because she's abysmal in absolutely everything, including Roman Holiday.

[–] Rick-34 9 years ago

A real plot hole is "What happened to Cruikshank when Dyle killed Tex? At one point Tex is holding a gun on Cruikshank. The next thing we see is Tex dead and Cruikshank not in the scene. What sequence of events led to this?

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 9 years ago

What happened to Cruikshank?

He wanted those stamps but couldn't get them, because Tex didn't have them. Maybe he insisted on searching Tex. He had no choice but to give up in frustration. He didn't harm Tex. He walked away from the room. Possibly he went for a short walk to clear his head. He would have been kicking himself for not thinking of those stamps sooner. For someone who worked in the treasury department, he sure was slow to catch on to those stamps!

During that time, Carson Dyle was hiding someplace in that hotel. He came in and killed Tex. Obviously this man was very sneaky. He had already killed the others without being seen. Killing the man with the missing hand must have been tricky for Dyle because all the other characters were in a nearby room. Yet he wasn't seen and he committed the crime very quietly (he wasn't heard). Killing Tex wouldn't have been a problem for him at all. All he had to do was to wait for Cruikshank to leave the room.

Dyle must have been very strong if he was able to take down a big guy like Tex. Most likely he knocked out Tex first - another reason why I am convinced that Tex never wrote "Dyle".

Just my humble theory.  It could have happened that way. The film focuses on Reggie getting the stamps back. That would have taken a little while. What I described could have happened in that time period.

~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen 🎇

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