Charade

2735. CHARADE (1953-England). With JAMES MASON, PAMELA MASON. Produced by JAMES MASON. Erudite British star James Mason and his actress wife Pamela, headline this trio of scintillating stories. The Masons first appear on screen as themselves, James explains that he aspires to produce a movie and has decided to put together a trio of short films. He and Pamela are cast in them. The first is an atmospheric chiller set in Paris, titled “Portrait Of A Murderer.” Pamela plays a lonely and self-destructive English-born artist who lately has been contemplating suicide. Her mood changes when a murder is committed in the next-door apartment. She thinks she knows the identity of the killer. Instead of turning him in to the police, she goes about getting to know him. The next yam is a provocative drama of one-upmanship, and is based on a story by ALEXANDRE DUMAS. It’s title: “Duel At Dawn.” It is set in the mid-19th-century, a “time when a man’s honor was his most precious possession and an insult can only be wiped out in blood.” James plays an Austrian major who has been newly assigned to a regiment stationed at the Polish border. It just so happens that he is engaged to wed a wealthy baroness. A captain in the regiment previously had been spurned by the ill pleased to make the major’s acquaintance. The final installment, “The Midas Touch” is a comic bauble which begins with the premise: after the age of forty, the pattern of a man’s life is irrevocably formed. His tastes and impulses are constant. He is incapable of change. James plays a man who possesses one talent: the ability to make huge sums of money. Upon arriving in America, he turned enormous profits in oil, real estate and the stock market. Now, he feels he wants “something else.” Only he does not know quite what. So he decides to abandon his empire and sets out to determine what it is he really wants from life. Although quite enjoyable, James Mason has been quoted as saying had hoped this curiosity would be lost without a trace.” 82 minutes Drama