Review of To Catch a Thief (1955) by Dave H — 13 Jul 2015

My pick for the classiest film ever.

Cary Grant. Grace Kelly. French Riviera location. Edith Head duds. It doesn't get more sophisticated than this, folks.

Of course, supreme elegance and class does not a fine film make. Alfred Hitchcock does that. To Catch a Thief isn't close to the best of his oeuvre. It's not particularly suspenseful or compelling. It's as light as the pastry on the Quiche Lorraine that John Williams enjoys in the film. No not THAT John Williams. The other one. Although they kinda look alike.

To Catch a Thief is a fun, frothy film with oodles of charm and class and very little depth or substance. But that's fine. The "thriller" angle - the Robie-Cops-Crims angle is adequate but forgettable. The story simply isn't that exciting or clever in a mystery-sense, with only one (ok) twist. Yet the travelogue elements of the film (notably, Hitch opens on a travel agent's window) are awesome. The French Riviera - notably Cannes, Nice, Monte Carlo - features in its heyday. The locations have never looked better. Hitch's seams between the location work and his studio sets are almost completely transparent - absolute state-of-the-art by 50s standards. I loved every exterior shot - Robie's home, the Cannes hotel and beach, the Monaco harbour restaurant, the expansive villas, and the mountain roadway stuff. The copter filmed chase early in the film not only gives a nice layout of the terrain (and is a fun bit in itself) it is also (to my wonky recollections) one of the first aerially-shot chase scenes in on film - par for the course in Bond films a decade later, but mid-50s and before? Love Hitch and his boundary-pushing.

The film is rich with detail and little snippets of visual humour (beyond Cary Grant's patented bemused reaction shots). Perfs are great. Landis is a bit hammy but fun, and handed the film's best one-liners. I chuckled at recalling the critical snipping I've read about her playing CG's mum in N&NW (and potential mum-in-law here) when she was only a few years older than him in real life...especially with Hue (never having seen CG before, or knowing of his stardom) commenting "but...but he's OLD???" when she realised the film was setting up a romance between Grant and Kelly and NOT Grant and Landis. Made me chuckle for so many reasons.

That (and Grant's distractingly overdone tan) aside, the casting of the two leads is perfection. Their style, their class, their (ahem) grace. They aren't bad looking either. And of course they have great chemistry. The witty dialogue between them sparkles, especially when laced with lust and innuendo. Hitch was a sly one.

"You want a leg or a breast?" might be one of the more famed quotes, but it's (wisely) fairly buried - I prefer this line (and it's delivery): "Are you sure you were talking about water skis? From where I sat it looked as though you were conjugating some irregular verbs." The verbal cat fight between Kelly and Foussard on the beach float is a joy, eg: "Why buy an old car if you can get a new one cheaper? It will run better and last longer", but it is far exceeded on the elegant-smut front by the fireworks scene, not merely with that exquisite dialogue, but with that sensational editing.

Even Hue, not exactly a connoisseur of visual metaphors, laughed broadly at the firework insertions between the seduction shots, and pegged them instantly for what they were intended to be. Not exactly subtle, Hitch.

Just like To Catch a Thief isn't exactly essential Hitch.

But it's lots of fun.

And eternally classy.