Charade (1963 Film) - Plot

Plot

Regina "Reggie" Lampert, on a skiing holiday in Megève, decides to divorce her husband Charles and then meets a charming stranger, Peter Joshua. When she returns to Paris, her apartment is completely empty and the police notify her that Charles has been murdered while leaving Paris. They give Reggie his travel bag, containing a letter addressed to her, a ticket to Venezuela, passports in multiple names, and other items. At the funeral, Regina notices three odd characters who show up to view the body. One sticks the corpse with a pin and another places a mirror in front of the body's mouth and nose, both to verify Charles is really dead.

Reggie is summoned to meet CIA administrator Hamilton Bartholomew at the U.S. Embassy. She learns that the three men are "Tex" Panthollow, Herman Scobie, and Leopold W. Gideon, the three survivors of a World War II OSS operation. Together with Charles Lampert and a fifth man, Carson Dyle, they were to deliver $250,000 in gold to the French Resistance — but they stole it instead. Dyle was fatally wounded in a German ambush, and Charles doublecrossed the others and took all the gold. The three men want the missing money, and the U.S. government wants it back. Bartholomew insists Reggie has it, even if she does not know where it is.

Peter tracks Reggie down and helps her move into a hotel. The three criminals separately threaten Reggie, each convinced she knows where the money is. After Scobie informs Reggie that Peter is in league with the trio (though none of them trust each other), Peter tells her he is really Carson Dyle's brother Alexander, and is convinced that the others murdered Carson.

As the hunt for the money continues, first Scobie is found murdered, then Gideon. The police grow increasingly exasperated. Reggie falls in love with Alex. When she learns from Bartholomew that Carson Dyle had no brother, Alex says he is actually Adam Canfield, an unabashed professional thief. Although frustrated by his dishonesty, Reggie still finds herself trusting him.

Reggie and Adam go to the location of Charles's last appointment and find an outdoor market. They also spot Tex there. Adam follows him. It is Tex who finally figures out where the money is hidden. He sees booths selling stamps to collectors and realizes Charles must have purchased rare stamps and stuck them on an envelope in plain sight, the letter in his travel bag. Adam realizes the same thing and races Tex back to Reggie's hotel room. But the stamps are gone: Reggie had given them to her friend's little boy, Jean-Louis, for his collection, and he has taken them to the market to trade them. Reggie now also realizes the stamps' significance and Jean-Louis finds the stamp trader. Fortunately, he is honest. He puts their total value at $250,000 and returns them to Reggie.

Back at the hotel, Reggie finds Tex murdered as well — and while dying, he wrote the name "Dyle". Figuring he meant Alexander Dyle, a frightened Reggie telephones Bartholomew, who arranges to meet her. When she leaves the hotel, Adam spots her and gives chase through the streets of Paris and the subway.

At the rendezvous, Reggie is caught out in the open between the two men. Adam tells her that "Bartholomew" is the murderer — he is really Carson Dyle, who was only wounded by the Germans. (To trick Reggie, he had slipped into an embassy office that was left unlocked at lunch.) After another chase, Adam kills Dyle to save Reggie.

Reggie goes to the embassy alone to turn over the stamps, as Adam refuses to accompany her. She is shocked to find him already inside. In fact Adam is Brian Cruikshank, the government official responsible for recovering stolen property. After proving his true identity, he promises to marry her... once she gives him the stamps.

The movie ends with a split-screen grid showing flashback shots of all four of Brian's identities, while Reggie says she hopes that they have lots of boys, so they can name them all after him.