This absolutely wonderful comedy thriller from Stanley Donen (co-director, with Gene Kelly, of On the Town and Singin' in the Rain) nearly out-Hitchcocks Hitchcock. With a MacGuffin so clever you'll never guess, and a dream pairing of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn on ravishing Parisian locations, what more could you possibly want in the way of movie entertainment? There's a clever plot (by Peter Stone) that never lets up, a marvellous romantic score (by Henry Mancini), star-making turns from Walter Matthau and James Coburn, and some magnificent set pieces: Grant taking a shower fully-clothed; Hepburn and Grant falling in love on a Paris river boat; and a one-handed villain in a roof-top cliffhanger. This terrific movie's got the lot. Jonathan Demme directed a disastrous remake in 2002, with Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton in the lead roles.

After Regina Lampert falls for the dashing Peter Joshua on a skiing holiday in the French Alps, she discovers upon her return to Paris that her husband has been murdered. Soon, she and Peter are giving chase to three of her late husband's World War II cronies, Tex, Scobie and Gideon, who are after a quarter of a million dollars the quartet stole while behind enemy lines.