To Catch a Thief

For other uses, see To Catch a Thief (disambiguation).

To Catch a Thief
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by	John Michael Hayes
Based on	To Catch a Thief by David Dodge
Produced by	Alfred Hitchcock
Starring	Cary Grant Grace Kelly Jessie Royce Landis John Williams
Cinematography	Robert Burks
Edited by	George Tomasini
Music by	Lyn Murray
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	August 3, 1955 (1955-08-03) (Los Angeles)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English French
Budget	$2.5 million
Box office	$4.5 million (U.S. rentals) $8.75 million

To Catch a Thief is a 1955 American romantic thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes based on the 1952 novel of the same name by David Dodge. The film stars Cary Grant as a retired cat burglar who has to save his reformed reputation by catching an impostor preying on wealthy tourists (including an oil-rich widow and her daughter played by Grace Kelly) on the French Riviera.

Plot

Trailer for To Catch a Thief

Retired jewel thief John "The Cat" Robie is suspected by the police in a string of burglaries on the French Riviera. When they come to his hilltop villa to question him, he slips their grasp and heads to a restaurant owned by his friend Bertani. The restaurant's staff are members of Robie's old gang, who have been paroled for their work in the French Resistance during World War II. They are angry at Robie because they are all under suspicion as long as the new Cat is active. When the police arrive at the restaurant looking for Robie, Danielle, the daughter of the restaurant's wine steward Foussard, spirits him to safety; she is a young woman who fancies him dearly.

Robie realizes he can prove his innocence by catching the new Cat in the act. He enlists the aid of an insurance man, H. H. Hughson, who reluctantly discloses a list of persons currently on the Riviera who own the most expensive jewelry. The American tourists Jessie Stevens, a wealthy nouveau-riche widow, and her daughter Frances top the list. Robie strikes up a friendship with them. Frances feigns modesty at first, but kisses Robie at the end of the night as she retires to her room.

The day after, Frances invites Robie to a swim at the beach, where Robie runs into Danielle. He keeps up his cover of being a wealthy American tourist, despite Danielle's jealous barbs about his interest in Frances. Frances accompanies Robie to a villa, where Robie suspects the new Cat might break in. Frances reveals that she knows Robie's real identity. He initially denies it, but concedes it that evening when she has invited him to her room to watch a fireworks display. They kiss passionately.

The next morning, Jessie discovers her jewels are gone. Frances accuses Robie of using her as a distraction so he could steal her mother's jewelry. The police are called, but by the time they reach Jessie's room Robie has disappeared.

Later Robie, while staking out an estate at night trying to catch the thief, is attacked by an unknown assailant. A second attacker raises a wrench and tries to kill Robie but accidentally instead hits the first assailant, who falls off the estate's seawall into the water. When the police reach the body in the water it turns out to be Foussard.

The police chief announces to the press that Foussard was the jewel thief, but, as Robie points out privately in the chief's office with Hughson present, this would have been impossible because Foussard had a wooden leg and could not climb on rooftops.

Foussard's funeral is interrupted by Danielle's loud accusation that Robie is responsible for her father's death. Outside the graveyard, Frances apologizes to Robie and confesses her love. Robie asks Frances to arrange his attendance at a fancy masquerade ball, where he believes the Cat will strike again.

Robie accompanies Frances to the ball dressed as a masked Moor. The police hover nearby. When Jessie addresses the Moor as "John" and asks him to go and get her "heart pills", the authorities are tipped off as to his identity. Upon the masked Moor's return, the police wait as he and Frances dance together all night. When the masked Moor accompanies Frances to her room, he removes the mask and turns out to be Hughson, who switched places with Robie to conceal the latter's exit. Upstairs, the cat burglar silently cleans out several jewel boxes.

Robie lurks on the rooftop, and his patience is finally rewarded when he spots a figure in black whom he recognizes as Danielle, Foussard's daughter. The police throw a spotlight on him and demand that he halt, giving Danielle the chance to slip away. Robie flees as they shoot at him and manages to corner his foe with jewels in hand. She loses her footing on the roof and starts to fall, but Robie grabs her hand at the last second. While she hangs in his grasp, he forces her to confess to the police and admit that Bertani was behind the thefts.

Robie speeds back to his villa. Frances follows to convince him that she has a place in his life. He agrees but looks less than thrilled when she says, "Mother will love it up here."

Cast

Kelly as Frances Stevens

Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in a scene

• Cary Grant as John Robie ("The Cat")
• Grace Kelly as Frances Stevens
• Jessie Royce Landis as Jessie Stevens
• John Williams as H. H. Hughson
• Charles Vanel as Monsieur Bertani
• Brigitte Auber as Danielle Foussard
• Jean Martinelli as Foussard, Danielle's father
• Georgette Anys as Germaine, housekeeper
• René Blancard as Commissaire Lepic (uncredited)
• Paul Newlan as Vegetable Man in Kitchen (uncredited)

Cast notes

• Alfred Hitchcock makes his signature cameo, approximately ten minutes into the film, as a bus passenger sitting next to Cary Grant and a caged pair of birds.

Production

To Catch a Thief was the director's first film (of five) made using the VistaVision widescreen process, and the last of the three Hitchcock films with Grace Kelly. The film was the penultimate collaboration with Cary Grant; only North by Northwest (1959) followed. It is also about a man with a mistaken identity who goes on a breakneck adventure to prove his innocence.

The costumes were by Edith Head, including Kelly's memorable gold lamé gown for the film's costume ball.

The car driven by Grace Kelly was a metallic blue 1953 Sunbeam Alpine Mk I.

Locations

To Catch a Thief was filmed largely in the Paramount Studios, Hollywood, California, and on location in the Alpes-Maritimes of southeastern France, on the Mediterranean coast. It included the resorts of Cannes, Nice, Villefranche-sur-Mer and Saint-Jeannet.

Crucial to the film's success in shooting on location was the presence of unit production manager C.O. "Doc" Erickson. He had developed a reputation for his work on prior Paramount films that had relied on a great amount of location photography, such as Shane (1953) and Secret of the Incas (1954). Erickson thoroughly researched the logistics of shooting in the South of France and communicated with Bill Mull, the production manager on Little Boy Lost (1953).

Distribution

To Catch a Thief is the only Hitchcock film released by Paramount that is still owned and controlled by the company. The others were sold to Hitchcock in the early 1960s and are currently distributed by Universal Studios.

Reception

Drive-in advertisement from 1955.

The film drew mixed reviews from critics, with some enjoying Grant and Kelly in the lead roles as well as the French Riviera setting, while others expressed disappointment at the lack of suspense compared to earlier Hitchcock films.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote in a positive review that the film "comes off completely as a hit in the old Hitchcock style ... Mr. Grant and Miss Kelly do grandly, especially in one sly seduction scene." Variety wrote that while the film was "not the suspense piece one usually associated with the Alfred Hitchcock name," it was "strong on sight and performance values" though it had "some plot weaknesses and is not as smooth in the unfolding as one might expect from an upper 'A' presentation."

Harrison's Reports wrote, "Alfred Hitchcock has not endowed the action with as much suspense as one might expect in a picture produced and directed by him; nevertheless, its story of a one-time jewel robber who sets out to establish his innocence by catching a thief who was using his technique is tight and swiftly-paced, and constantly offers dramatic and comical developments." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called it "one of those de luxe pictures in which everyone lives in glorious workless luxury on the French Rivera, looks wonderful, speaks amusingly and is unconcerned with transit strikes or hurricanes. I loved every minute of it."

Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times was also positive, calling Grant and Kelly "ideal in the romantic leads" and the dialogue "daring but delightful," adding, "Above all, there is the spell of the French Riviera—a lazy, laissez-faire thing that apparently captivated the director as much as it will audiences in the soft, beguiling hues of its Technicolor and VistaVision."

John McCarten of The New Yorker dismissed the film as "an Alfred Hitchcock picture that makes you wonder what has happened to the man ... As the heiress, Grace Kelly is very pretty. She does not, presumably, try to act." The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "Even a comedy thriller needs considerably more in the way of plain excitement and tension than To Catch a Thief provides, and Hitchcock's celebrated habit of playing tricks with the audience ... seem a poor substitute for the real thing."

The Guardian called the film "a thorough disappointment," writing that Hitchcock had "failed so completely that one can only wonder if, in this tale of high-class burglary on the Côte d'Azur, he has not altogether abandoned his devotion to 'tension.' Certainly the 'whodunnit' element in this film is remarkably slack; the unmasking of the master criminal, which is the climax of the story, comes as mildly as bread and milk."

François Truffaut wrote "To Catch a Thief completely satisfies all [Hitchcock's] fans—the snobbiest and the most ordinary—and still manages to be one of the most cynical films Hitchcock has ever made."

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 92% based on reviews from 53 critics, with an average rating of 7.9/10, with the critical consensus reading: "It may occasionally be guilty of coasting on pure charm, but To Catch a Thief has it in spades -- as well as a pair of perfectly matched stars in Cary Grant and Grace Kelly."

Accolades

Robert Burks won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, while Hal Pereira, Joseph McMillan Johnson, Samuel M. Comer and Arthur Krams were nominated for Best Art Direction, and Edith Head was nominated for Best Costume Design.

In 2002, American Film Institute included the film in AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions (#46).

Adaptations

In May 2018, it was announced that Viacom was set to adapt the film as a Spanish-language television series. It was launched in October 2019 as Atrapa a un ladrón (es).

Soundtracks

• Alfred Hitchcock's TO CATCH A THIEF (EP). With Francie's Theme, You'll Love France and Unexpected by Lyn Murray, as well as Your Kiss by George Cates & Georgie Auld. Conducted by Lyn Murray. Tenor Sax Solos by Georgie Auld. Coral Records EC 81083, USA 1955 and Coral Records CXP45-846 and Festival Records CXP45-846, Australia 1956.
• To Catch A Thief / The Bridges At Toko-Ri (CD) by Lyn Murray. 22 Tracks from "To Catch a Thief". Conducted by Lyn Murray. Recorded at Paramount Scoring Stage, Los Angeles, USA 1954. INTRADA Special Collection Volume 266, 2014.
• Serenade To A Princess - theme songs from the motion pictures made famous by GRACE KELLY (LP). With Francie's Theme by Lyn Murray and Your Kiss by George Cates & Georgie Auld. Conducted by David Carroll. Mercury Records MG 20156, USA 1956, Canada 1956.
• TO CATCH A THIEF - A HISTORY OF HITCHCOCK II (CD). With Paramount Vista Vision Fanfare by Nathan van Cleave and To Catch a Thief - Suite (You'll Love France / My Jewels / Red Convertible / Riviera Car Chase / Bus Stop / Finale) by Lyn Murray. Performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Conducted by Paul Bateman. Recorded at Smecky Music Studios, Prague, Czech Republic. Silva Screen Records, USA 1995.
• Psycho - The Essential Alfred Hitchcock (2-CD-Set). With To Catch a Thief: Suite by Lyn Murray and Paramount Vista Vision Fanfare by Nathan van Cleave. Performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Conducted by Paul Bateman. Recorded at Smecky Music Studios, Prague, Czech Republic. Silva Screen Records, FILMXCD 320, London 1999.

See also

• List of American films of 1955

Bibliography

• De Rosa, Steven (2001). Writing with Hitchcock: The Collaboration of Alfred Hitchcock and John Michael Hayes. Faber and Faber. ISBN 0571199909.
• Orengo, Nico (2006). La Guerra del Basilico (The Basil War (in Italian). Einaudi. ISBN 880618296X.
• Spoto, Donald (1999). The Dark Side of Genius. Da Capo. ISBN 0-306-80932-X.
• Vest, James M. (2003). Hitchcock and France: The Forging of an Auteur. Praeger. ISBN 0275970892.

Further reading

• "Two Interviews About To Catch a Thief" by Tifenn Brisset, Film International magazine Vol. 11, No. 6, 2013, pages 13–21. Interviews with French script supervisor Sylvette Baudrot conducted September 2011 and actress Brigitte Auber, September 2011, March 2013, regarding their work on the film and with Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock. Discussion of a different ending and script differences. Twelve color photographs, nine pages.

External links

• To Catch a Thief at IMDb
• To Catch a Thief at AllMovie
• To Catch a Thief at the TCM Movie Database
• To Catch a Thief at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• To Catch a Thief at Rotten Tomatoes
• To Catch a Thief at Metacritic
• Historic reviews, photo gallery at CaryGrant.net