Cary Grant plays John Robie, a retired jewel thief, in Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief. That sentence alone should sell you on this film. Still, if you need more, please read on. John Robie used to steal jewels from the rich in the south of France. He knew how to find the right victims, figure the right times to take from them, and then creep in from the rooftops, shimmying down whatever needed shimmying down to get the ice. They called him The Cat. He made a pretty good living at it, but he's retired now... or is he? It seems that The Cat may not be out of business after all. Someone's been using his modus operandi to steal from the rich, so the police come calling. He throws them off his trail with ease and decides to clear his name the only way he knows how: he's gonna get into the mindset of a cat burglar and figure out who the next victim will be. It takes a thief to catch a thief. Robie discovers Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly), the daughter of Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis), a nouveau riche widow with sparkly diamonds always near at hand. Frances suspects that Robie is The Cat and hopes to team up with him for some misadventure. The Paramount Centennial Collection is a good thing, bringing new life to some classic films. This two-disc set features commentary by Hitchcock historian Dr. Drew Casper, making-of featurettes, a profile on costume designer Edith Head, and a great little feature on how Hitchcock would slip all sorts of sexual content past the censors in the era of the Hayes Code (in which films were denied meaningful distribution if they didn't stay away from lurid content). Hitchcock was a master at including suggestive content without coming out and showing it. The only thing lacking is a Blu-ray version. If you're a Hitchcock fan, To Catch a Thief is certainly worth adding to your collection - perhaps not as compelling as Notorious or Rebecca, but it's not to be missed. |
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