rdoyle29

Cary Grant is a reformed cat burglar. When someone starts stealing jewels following his old M. O., the police suspect him. He decides to clear his name by finding the thief himself. This puts him into the company of Grace Kelly and romance and thief-finding ensue.

I was pretty underwhelmed by this one. It's a romantic mystery thriller and I found both the romance and the mystery to be uncompelling.

The romance is the better part of this. It's nice to see Grant and Kelly on screen together (he was persuaded to unretire for this film ... which lasted another 11 years). That said, the romance is the kind that only really exists because the actors are beautiful and the film asserts that it does. Like the French Riviera settings, handsome cars and costumes, and pretty VistaVision tableaus, it's attractive, super light and doesn't really stick with you.

The mystery is actually pretty dreadful. It's difficult to believe that Grant is ever in any real danger of going to jail for a series of crimes that can't be connected to him by any actual evidence. His "M. O." seems to be "stealing jewels and leaving no evidence", which is hardly a decisive signature. Apparently the police believe he'd go out a steal a bunch of jewels and then just sit around the house waiting for them to show up. The idea that he has to go on the run is a real stretch.

Even if you buy that, the big hunt for the real thief is mainly hanging around beaches and villas until the real thief falls into his lap. Not the most compelling manhunt.

I don't think it's bad film by any stretch, but like a lot of mid-tier Hitchcock, it goes down easily and then instantly evaporates.

John Payne is former boxer working as a cab driver. His boxing career was cut short by an eye injury sustained in his last match, and his wife Peggie Castle is becoming increasingly discontent with their new modest lifestyle. She's having an affair with jewel thief Brad Dexter, which Payne becomes aware of when he sees them together.

Dexter plans on fencing a bunch of diamonds he stole and running off with Castle. His fence Jay Adler calls off the deal due to Castle's presence. Dexter compensates by murdering Castle and framing Payne for it. Payne has to find Dexter and clear his name. Aspiring actress Evelyn Keyes, a friend of Payne's, inadvertently becomes involved and helps Payne.

Payne and director Phil Karlson team up for another tough little noir following "Kansas City Confidential". This one doesn't quite equal the Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand trio of baddies from KCC, but Dexter is always a great psycho and tough guy Jack Lambert shows up too.

In the aftermath of Mussolini's removal from office, buffoonish wine merchant Anthony Quinn is made the new mayor of the small town of Santa Vittoria. Shortly after, the town learns that the German army is intending to occupy the town. Their chief resource is wine ... over 1,000,000 bottles ... that they produce and sell to Cinzano. Knowing that the Germans plan on confiscating it, they hatch a plan to hide it in old Roman caves on the edge of town.

The Germans arrive, lead by Hardy Krüger. Quinn puts on an obsequious front, allowing Krüger to believe that the few thousand bottles they have left for him to confiscate is all they have. All seems fine until word comes down to Krüger from Cinzano about how much wine the town really should have.

Like most Stanley Kramer's directorial output, this is quite a long film. Most of the reason for it's length is the large number of characters in a large number of subplots. Anna Magnani is Quinn's wife who, sick of him being a drunken clown, kicks him out of the house. Virna Lisi is the widowed contessa who falls in love with army deserter Sergio Franchi. A very young Giancarlo Giannini falls in love with Quinn's daughter.

The heart of the movie is the Quinn/Krüger interactions, and both are in top form. This is the rare Kramer film that's very light on social messages and it's kind of better for it. Shot in Italy at Cinecittà, it has wonderful cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno.