Few would argue director Alfred Hitchcock’s status as a master of suspense. However, his 1955 effort, To Catch a Thief, can hardly be considered among the best in his suspense cannon. If a person’s first exposure to Hitchcock is To Catch a Thief, they may wonder how he got his “master of suspense” moniker. While the film is definitely entertaining, it is far from suspenseful or emotionally draining.
Though To Catch a Thief stars the legendary Cary Grant, the film definitely belongs to Grace Kelly. Given what we know now, it’s hard to ignore her connection to the location. While half of To Catch a Thief was filmed on the Paramount lot, the rest was filmed on location in the south of France, in and around Monaco. Ms. Kelly married Prince Rainer and became Princess of Monaco after making her last film, High Society. In To Catch a Thief, there are several scenes of Grace Kelly driving around the south of France; the same place she would die in a car accident in 1982.
Based on the 1952 novel of the same name by David Dodge, the screenplay was written by John Michael Hayes. Hayes scripted several of Hitchcock’s best known films, including: Rear Window (1954), The Trouble with Harry (1955) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). In this film, a string of burglaries in and around Cannes in southern France leads police to believe that “The Cat,” John Robie (Cary Grant), is back in action again. However, Robie hasn’t stolen anything in fifteen years, so he enlists the help of insurance man H. H. Hughson (John Williams), in order to prove his innocence. His plan is to catch the real thief. Robie also decides to use the American heiress Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly) as bait. Robie and Stevens fall in love but even she thinks that he’s the burglar.
The relationship between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly develops into little more than a cozy pairing; it’s not one of those on screen relationships that exude passion. This is due in part to the two actors’ velvety dispositions. Cary Grant’s sleek aura works well at counterbalancing Ingrid Bergman’s bent-up presence in Notorious, while Grace Kelly does an equally postured job at containing the exponentially-twitchy James Stewart in Rear Window. But the chemistry between Grant and Kelly is lacking any real spark of tension.
In most of Hitchcock’s films, the director sought to create a swelling level of anticipation for his audience. With To Catch a Thief he takes a notably different path, by interjecting only brief moments of suspense. Instead, the film has a decidedly maudlin tone. There are some minor twists and some sweeping cinematography work by Robert Burks, who shot twelve films for Hitchcock and won an Oscar for his work on To Catch a Thief. Burks work keeps the story lively and somewhat exciting instead of maintaining the brooding feel that sometimes takes over the film.
The best way to enjoy To Catch a Thief is to focus on small touches such as shots of a black cat skittering across tiled rooftops, Grace Kelly’s gorgeous costumes (designed by the legendary Edith Head), and the French-ness of the production. There are numerous passages with characters speaking only French, and the movie does not supply subtitles (either burned onto the print or via the DVD’s subtitle stream)–a nod to the days when sophisticated people were conversant in that elegant language. There are the usual Hitchcockian touches, from a cameo by the director to the “an innocent man being wronged” theme, from height fetishes to food fetishes, from stunning ice queens to stunning settings.
In the end, To Catch a Thief may not be Hitchcock’s best work but it’s certainly a different kind offilm from the “Master of Suspense”. Further, To Catch a Thief belongs in the DVD collection of any true Hitchcock fan.
The 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is impressive. We get a well-preserved, Technicolor, VistaVision print in bright, vivid, vibrant colors and strong black levels, with a modicum of natural film grain to give the picture a realistic texture. There is some minor moiré effects, shimmering lines in Grant’s striped sweater, for example; a degree of edge enhancement noticeable on close inspection. However, none of these minor issues should affect the viewing experience.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 is rather good in terms of its mid and upper frequency response, with clear, clean highs and a natural, well-balanced midrange. Bass suffers but there isn’t much need of a low end, in any case. There is little-to-no surround activity, except that which your particular sound system provides, but there is a comfortable front-channel stereo spread.
Disc one of this two-disc Centennial Collection set contains the feature film; eighteen scene selections; and English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles. In addition, we get a newly recorded audio commentary by film historian Dr. Drew Casper. He teaches classes in Hitchcock at USC. I found his comments informative.
Disc two contains mainly a series of short featurettes, many of them newly made. The first is “A Night With the Hitchcocks,” twenty-three minutes with the director’s daughter and granddaughter taking questions from USC Hitchcock students. Next is “Unacceptable Under the Code,” eleven minutes on censorship in Hollywood and how Hitch worked around the restrictions imposed upon him by the various production codes. After that is “Writing and Casting To Catch a Thief,” nine minutes on screenwriter John Michael Hayes’s script, based on the novel by David Dodge, and some of the censorship issues that swirled around it. Then, there’s “The Making of To Catch a Thief,” sixteen minutes of behind-the-scenes reminiscences by Hitchcock’s daughter, granddaughter, the film’s production manager, and others. Following that is “Behind the Gates: Cary Grant and Grace Kelly,” six minutes of mini biographies on the two stars specifically. And next is “Alfred Hitchcock and To Catch a Thief: An Appreciation,” seven minutes of comments on the film and the director again by Hitch’s daughter and granddaughter.
The featurettes wind down with “Edith Head: The Paramount Years,” thirteen minutes on the most-famous costume designer in Hollywood history; followed by an interactive travelogue: “If You Love To Catch a Thief, You’ll Love This” that allows you to click on various locations on a map and bring up scenes from the movie; a standard-screen theatrical trailer; and separate stills galleries on the movie, the publicity, the production, even visitors to the sets. The two discs and an eight-page illustrated booklet insert come housed in a slim-line keep case, further enclosed in an elegant Centennial Collection slipcover.
