How To Succesfully Waste A Summer Evening... Hitchcock's Frothy Fun From 1955

I had not viewed Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch A Thief since 1974 when I took a class on his work in college at Loyola Marymount University. The course was taught by Charles Champlin, who at the time was a film critic for The Los Angeles Times. I loved the class & Hitchcock remains one of my favorite directors. One of the highlights of the class was a viewing of the not yet released- Family Plot at which the Master spoke after the viewing & took questions from the class. One fervent & overeager Film major asked the director- " Mr. Hitchcock, what is your definition of THE CINEMA?" Hitchcock's sardonic reply: "Well... that reminds me of when I was working with Miss Ingrid Bergman & she was quite distraught at changes in the script. She became very unhappy with me & I had to say- 'oh, Ingrid...it's only a movie'."

Last evening, the Husband & I sat down to watch a movie & landed on an AMC showing of To Catch A Thief. Not Hitchcock’s most compelling or suspenseful film, but perhaps his prettiest. It is frothy, entertaining & stylish, & it set the standard for many a fashionable heist & caper movie to follow. It is a sly & sunny film with few of Alfred Hitchcock’s darker themes. To Catch a Thief is a lavishly costumed mystery about a cat burglar prowling the playgrounds of the very rich on the French Riviera. With two of Hitchcock’s favorite stars, glorious Grace Kelly (26) & gorgeous Cary Grant (52), the film quite literally sparkles. It contains the very odd pleasure of containing a well done chase scene in a sports car driven by Grace Kelly on the same road on which she would be killed in 1982. It has one of cinema's most well known & often imitated cum shots- the famous fireworks scene where Kelly approaches Grant in her sexy, strapless evening gown & says, "If you really want to see fireworks, it's better with the lights off. I have a feeling that tonight you're going to see one of the Riviera's most fascinating sights. I'm talking about the fireworks, of course", & as they kiss passionately, the camera cuts away to shots of the fireworks going off over the harbor & then back to them. The first photo is Vanity Fair's homage to this scene, recreated by Gweneth Paltrow & Robert Downey Jr. (smart choices for the remake, but the Husband votes for George Clooney). Other memorable scenes from To Catch a Thief include the elaborate costume ball which Hitchcock wanted to film merely to showcase Kelly's shimmering Edith Head gold gown & Grant's unmasking of the thief on the rooftop, & a very funny bit where actor Jesse Royce Landis puts out her cigarette in a plate of fried eggs, a funny & surprising moment. As a sample of Hollywood refreshment, it's a smashing movie, with plenty of good stuff on display for audience consumption, from Cary Grant's bronzed, middle-aged elegance to the cinematographer's love affair with beautiful colored Southern French vistas, the streets of Monaco & the Mediterranean Sea.

The 50s were owned by Alfred Hitchcock. He worked with his best writers, had the best actors & created some of his best films both commercially & critically: Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, The Trouble With Harry, Vertigo (in my top 10 films) & North by Northwest. Smacked right in the middle of the decade was To Catch A Thief. It’s a movie that does not get as much critical attention as the others, but that does not make it any less enjoyable.

John Robie (Cary Grant) is a former cat burglar who has reformed himself by joining an underground French movement during WW2, but his character has been called into question when a string of robberies occur with his familiar style. Determined to prove that he is innocent, he joins forces with Lloyds of London insurer H.H. Hughson (John Williams). Their plan is to watch over one of the next possible targets; the jewels belonging to Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis who nearly steals the movie with her dry & off kilter performance) & her stunning daughter Frances (Grace Kelly). The pact between H.H. & Robie means nothing to the police as they try to detain the former “Cat” every chance they get. And it doesn’t help matters that his old crew (also reformed) believes he is the one committing the crimes as well. So Robie has to find & stop the new thief in order to save his own skin. This is the common -" innocent man in a set up- nobody believes him" theme from many of Master's films.

To Catch a Thief is Hitchcock’s enjoyable little popcorn flick. He himself described it as a "vacation movie. It is not challenging, or dramatic, but a wonderful diversion on a summer evening with not much on your mind. I didn't once think of Michael Jackson or Sarah Palin while enjoying it.
The opening credits-a shot of a display window of the French Riviera at a Travel Agency (with a sign that says "if you don't love France, you don't love life" ends with a quick-cut shot of a woman screaming as she finds her jewelry has been stolen, suggest that Hitchcock was in on the joke that this is not a suspense film, but that the camera will take the audience on a trip for 90 minutes & in the foreground you have the beauty of Kelly & Grant & in the background you have the beauty of European extravagance (Robie’s villa, the casino, the beach, the long winding roads on the Riviera, the magnificent hotel). I was glad to go.