To Catch a Thief (The Centennial Collection) |  | Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Actors: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams, Charles Vanel
Studio: Paramount
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $10.94
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Rating:  179 reviews
Sales Rank: 1271
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.5 x 0.7
MPN: 142324
UPC: 097361423241
EAN: 0097361423241
ASIN: B001PKHS68
Theatrical Release Date: 1955
Release Date: March 24, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 03/24/2009 Run time: 106 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
One of the creamiest of all of Alfred Hitchcock's films, To Catch a Thief is something like pure pleasure. Begin ticking off the ingredients of this 1955 movie and you'll get the picture: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, the French Riviera, champagne, fireworks, cat burglary. Mmm, it already feels good. Grant plays a retired thief who becomes a suspect when valuable things begin disappearing along the Cote d'Azur. The diamonds hanging from the well-sculpted neck of Grace Kelly would appear to be the newest target, but it's just possible that actual romance might also be wafting through the Mediterranean air. The lightness of the story keeps To Catch a Thief from being one of the masterpieces of Hitchcock's great run in the 1950s, but it is very difficult to cavil about the sunny locations, Grant's elegant aplomb, and Kelly's shrewd withholding of her sexual interest beneath the ice-queen exterior. John Michael Hayes provided the amusing script (which stretches double entendres to their limit, especially in a romantic discussion of fried chicken), Edith Head the splendid costumes. If the movie has any weight at all, it's in proving that at this point in his career Hitchcock was consumed with charting the tricky terrain of male-female courtship; if issues of trust are treated here with a light touch, they nevertheless matter as much as the mechanical working-out of Mr. H's suspense stories. --Robert Horton
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 179
 Diamonds Are Forever -- A Hitchcock Romantic Thriller! March 6, 2010
Scotman (Sausalito, CA)
This 1955 film is Hitchcock's adventure into romantic comedy, or as one critic called it, "romantic thriller." I can see that!
The story is apparently about a man who used to be a jewel and diamond thief but after the war and his heroics there in the French Underground, has retired from being a cat burglar (The Cat) and lives in a fancy house with servants in the French Riviera. Someone is copying him, stealing jewels just as he did with his methods. The other thief is so good that many people, even his own comrades and the police, think he is doing it.
But that plotline is fake! It's actually about John Robie (Cary Grant) and Francie (Grace Kelly, in her final movie before moving to Monaco), their exploration of romance and expressions of their love.
The film has all the requisite items in a Hitchcock stew: take a man with a mistaken identity, put in a dash of rich blondes driving fancy cars (very fast, actually) and stir in the atmosphere of the French Riviera.
But I think the soup has a bit too many items in it! I mean, it is intriguing to watch Grant as he tries to clear his name and how he tries to pick up on Kelly's character at the same time. But the film drags a bit.
Take the masquerade scene where Francie helps set up a trap to catch the real thief. Many couples traipsing in with their gorgeous ball gowns and 18th century costumes really drags -- but at the same time is an awesome showcase of Edith Head's costuming, the famous movie costumer working at Paramount at the time.
I did enjoy the double entendre ("Would you prefer a leg or a breast?") when discussing picnic chicken; or how Grace Kelly's character is driving down a narrow road, hairpin turns at 90 miles an hour with a sly grin on her face; or even better, the fireworks going off between kisses!
The DVD I rented had a lot of great "making of" treasures, including interviews with Hitchcock's daughter Pat and his granddaughter Mary Stone. A pretty funny story was told where Mary was studying film and one of Hitchcock's films was one of the subjects (I forget which one, Stranger on a Train I think) and Hitch helped her write a paper on what the director was trying to say in the film.
Another tidbit was that Cary Grant was not going to act in anymore pictures until convinced to work on "Thief". To think, if Cary got his wish, we never would have seen him on North by Northwest and others.
The paper came back a "C"! Hitchcock saw this and said, "Well, I did my best!"
Family photos of the Hitchcock family, trailers, interviews with the cast and crew from To Catch a Thief, and a very interesting bio of Edith Head gave awesome film history to anyone interested in the men and women behind the camera.
To Catch a Thief has its moments, but does not measure up to his other hits such as Rear Window or North by Northwest. Recommended.
Some Cary Grant Films:
The Cary Grant Signature Collection (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House / Destination Tokyo / The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer / My Favorite Wife / Night and Day)
TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Romantic Comedies (Adam's Rib / Woman of the Year / The Philadelphia Story / Bringing Up Baby)
Some Grace Kelly Films:
The Hollywood Collection - Grace Kelly: The American Princess
The Leading Ladies Collection (Now Voyager / Mildred Pierce / For Me and My Gal / Father of the Bride / Dial M for Murder)
 Buy It February 13, 2010
Willy D. Reviewer (San Francisco,CA)
Of course this is a classic.
But the best scene is at Grace Kelly's door, when Cary Grant says good night to her. Her reaction.
Hitchcock, Grant, Kelly at their best February 5, 2010
Cary Grant (USA)
This is a fine Hitchcock film, with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly at their best. Story is exciting and has humor as well as adventure.
 thanks for the dvd February 2, 2010
T. Shepherd
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was grateful to receive the dvd so that my mother could have the older movies she enjoys to watch. I highly recommended that anyone looking for older movies to use this distributor. Highly reommended
PRETTY NEAR PERFECTION January 1, 2010
Geary A., Jones
This is one of Hitch's 'lighter' films, which doesn't mean there isn't some genuine tension, or suspense. It's just that there's a lot more double entendre, humor, and romance than one usually associates with most of his films. Then, of course, teaming Grace Kelly with Cary Grant on the French Riviera pretty much screamed romance, and on top of this there's the luscious, academy-award-winning cinematography of Robert Burk. The dialogue in this marvelously witty, romp is also magically delicious. Grant is dashing, ascerbic, and charming, and Kelly is simply dazzling in Edith Head's beautiful gowns. The chemistry between the two stars hardly needed actual fireworks, and one can only imagine Hitchcock smiling hugely as the night sky outside the hotel window erupts with overkill behind them as they kiss. TO CATCH A THIEF is a must for any serious film-lover.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 179
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