Travis Simpkins: To Catch a Thief (1955): Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly

Saturday, December 29, 2018

To Catch a Thief (1955): Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly

To Catch a Thief (1955) was both a first and a last for Alfred Hitchcock. It was the first time he used the newly developed widescreen film process, VistaVision, which he would subsequently use in four more films... and it was the last time he worked with Grace Kelly, who gave up acting in 1956 when she married royalty and became Princess Grace of Monaco. Hitchcock tried persuading her to star in his 1964 film, Marnie, but the citizens of Monaco wouldn't allow it, feeling it would be inappropriate for her to resume acting given her station. Nevertheless, To Catch a Thief is a lovely and fitting farewell to Grace Kelly the actress, with her elegant beauty captured against the breathtaking scenery of the French Riviera, and alongside a dapper leading man in Cary Grant.

John Robie (Cary Grant), a notorious jewel thief known as "The Cat", has been retired for the past fifteen years. His peaceful life on the French Riviera is thrown into turmoil once again, however, when a series of burglaries in his signature style lead the authorities to believe he has resumed his life of crime...

To Catch a Thief. 1955. Alfred Hitchcock: Cary Grant

Realizing that proclaiming his innocence is futile, Robie goes on the run, in an effort to hunt down and expose the copy-cat thief who is causing him so much trouble. He catches the eye of wealthy American heiress Francie Stevens (Grace Kelly), who along with her mother also happens to be the next likely target of the new jewel thief...