Thick as Thieves

To Catch a Thief (1955, dir. Hitchcock)

Make that another great film from 1955 that wasn't nominated for Best Picture. Chalk it alongside Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden (both in my Top 10 of all time to the side there), The Man with the Golden Arm and foreign titles Rififi and Dreams by Bergman. This is a ripping lil who-dunnit isn't it?

I wasn't getting into the flow of this movie at the start. Seemed a bit cartoonish. Not as serious as it should've been but as soon as he got on the boat to Cannes I started getting into the groove and from there on it was gravy. Although it must be said that Cary Grant looked frightfully leatherfaced in this movie. SO brown. Sort of scary. But how absolutely gorgeous is Grace Kelly? She's definitely in the top 3 of most beautiful actresses ever. And what about those locations! Surely this area is one of the most stunning in the world (or, at least it WAS). And those costumes! When they're not at that fancy ball at the end they're walking around in gorgeous summer outfits that are just wonderful.

I totally sussed out who the cat burgler was before the end (in fact it was quite early) but unlike a lot of Hitchcock movies, the greatness here doesn't come from the individual story, which is really quite silly. No, the reason to watch here is all the stuff I said up there. It looks supreme. And then there is the pure and simple fact that when Cary Grant and Grace Kelly are on screen together there is literally magic. THAT is chemistry, folks. How about the scene as Grace drives Cary to a villas and then to a picnic? The dialogue sparks. How did my tv not explode during these moments? A-