Charade on Blu-Ray

Just a quick note to let everyone know that one of Audrey's best films, Charade, will be released on Blu-Ray tomorrow through Criterion. Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Paris, suspense, romance, comedy, what more could you ask for? And Criterion treats their films so well, so you can trust me when I say the Criterion edition of anything is worth it. (The commentary track with director Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone is so great, and the print has been restored.) If you want to investigate a little more, here's Charade's page on Criterion's website, and Amazon has the price knocked down from $39.95 to $29.49, even cheaper than the regular edition. Not bad!

rare insight into Audrey Hepburn

There's a new video on You Tube from a made-for-TV biography that I don't think I've ever seen. The clip that was uploaded was from a Chinese airing, but maybe it's been aired in English-speaking countries? Either way, it's fantastic interviews with Mel Ferrer, Henry Mancini (composer of "Moon River"), Stanley Donen (director of Funny Face and Two For the Road), and Hubert de Givenchy. It's a really fascinating segment to watch and gives more insight into Audrey's career and relationships with these men, you really just have to see it to appreciate it. I certainly can't do it justice!

watch Charade for free!

A lesser-known piece of information for you: the fantastic Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant feature Charade has actually slipped into the public domain! I don't know how it happened, but it has, which means you technically don't have to pay to watch or own this fantastic film. While I still recommend at least watching the Criterion Collection edition of this film with the commentary by director Stanley Donen and writer Peter Stone (those two men are hilarious!), I completely understand the $40 price tag being a little much for a lot of Audrey fans out there. In the meantime, though, you can sit in the comfort of your computer chair and watch this stylish caper completely free on You Tube:

Edit: Links removed because the entire film has been taken down.

Chick flicks, lookalikes, and the LBD

Thank you all for your patience. I appreciate it!

First up, the lovely Lotta has sent us a great find. It seems that in Finland in 1955 there was an Audrey Hepburn lookalike contest, and the grand prize was a trip to Stockholm! If you can read Finnish, then there's a short article here, and you can see a small picture of the winner. There is also a link to a short video about the contest on that page, or you can just click here. It seems that even then, everyone wanted to look like Audrey.

Next up, there's an article out about the top ten chick flicks. I personally don't care for the phrases "chick flick" or "chick lit," but this article does list Breakfast at Tiffany's at #5, and has a great description of Audrey's take on Holly: "Representing the woman almost any female wishes she could be, Hepburn plays Holly with an air of sophistication, sweetness, sexuality and vulnerability that can just never again be matched." That pretty much nails it.
Up next, Marni Nixon did a radio interview for the BBC, and there's more talk of Audrey. There's also a section that was sort of Audrey vs. Marilyn Monroe, which is like comparing apples and oranges. All the same, you can hear the entire interview here.

A school in Nevada does a really cool thing every year about this time: the kids do a live wax museum of people who were influential the year the kids were born. This year Audrey was featured! And while it's a little sad to think that she died around the time that most of these kids are born, it's pleasing to know that she's still remembered and that this generation is made aware of her. You can read all about it here. And speaking of wax museums:


The wax Audrey Hepburn from the Shanghai Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Pretty cute! And her cigarette glows. (Photos from Flickr and Artem)

For the ladies: yet another article about the upcoming auction (five days!), and this one gives you some dos and don'ts on what to do to make your little black dress a success. It also has a most unflattering picture of yet another model in the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress, which makes me wonder how stretched out it's going to be by the time it hits the auction block. Anyway, the whole article can be found here.

Turner Classic Movies is interviewing director Stanley Donen for their Private Screenings series, and he will be discussing his many spectacular films. I'm sure there'll be some good Audrey stories told as well, since he always seems to be full of them on his commentaries, and TCM will also be showing Funny Face on December 6th. You can read more about TCM's upcoming events and details about the Stanley Donen marathon here.

And lastly, an article I found about Sean's work. In 2001 he directed a documentary on Albert "Racehoss" Sample, and while it's been very hard to find so far, it's had very positive reviews. This article talks about Racehoss and his mesmerizing life story, and at the end hints that maybe the film will be seeing some more mainstream distribution soon. Now I'm interested in seeing it . . .

clarifications on the Harper's dress, "Charade" commentary

A lot of people have been searching for more pictures of Natalie Portman in the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress from Harper's Bazaar and find this picture, thinking it's the front of the dress:


But if you actually look at this dress, then you'll notice that the fabric is completely different, more of a linen than satin (or, more simply, not shiny versus shiny). While Natalie does wear Givenchy in the rest of the photo shoot, there's no way this is the front of the same dress. Also note the stitching across the bodice, which would show on the sides and back of the other pictures. And the fact that her hair and jewelry are different. Just thought I'd point it out, since it's been bugging me. :) And if you're interested, you can see a little bit of the article from Harper's here. The rest you can just read in the magazine aisle of your local bookstore, like I probably will. ;)

Secondly, I finally watched Charade with the commentary on, and it's honestly as fun as watching the movie. It's on the Criterion edition of the movie and it's with screenwriter Peter Stone and director Stanley Donen, and they are hilarious! They're constantly insulting each other (in a friendly way), and have such great stories to tell about the film. I don't want to give anything away, but here's one of my favourite bits:

"Audrey was very tall. How tall was she?"
"Five-eight."
"No!"
"Probably. When she was standing on her money."

There hasn't been much Audrey news lately, but tomorrow there might be a large photo gallery coming up for your enjoyment . . . Also, if you want to win a good prize in the next contest, you'd better go vote on what you want! So far we're getting one vote for each suggestion (and multiple voting is disabled).