When a number of jewel thefts take place on the French Riviera, suspicion falls on John Robie, an American expatriate. Robie was at one time a notorious jewel thief, but escaped from prison during the Second World War and joined the French Resistance. As a result of his bravery, he was paroled, and, although he now claims to be living an honest existence, the recent burglaries have all the hallmarks of his style. Robie has to clear his name of suspicion and expose the real "Cat", as the press have nicknamed the burglar. (The theme of a man unjustly accused or suspected of a crime was a common one with Hitchcock). Along the way, he finds time to flirt with Danielle, the attractive daughter of a local waiter, and to carry on a more serious romance with Frances Stephens, a glamorous American oil heiress.
Hitchcock is not, perhaps, a director whom one would normally associate with visual beauty, but as another reviewer has pointed out, this is perhaps his most visually beautiful film, with plenty of tourist-brochure shots of the Riviera. (The film won an Oscar for "Best Cinematography" and was nominated for two others, "Best Art Direction" and "Best Costume Design"). For the two main roles, he used two of his favourite actors, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. In both cases, it was their third Hitchcock film; Grant would later go on to make a fourth, "North by Northwest". Kelly was one of the most beautiful Hollywood stars of all time, and Hitchcock catches her at her loveliest in this film, her beauty shown to its best advantage by some sumptuous costumes. Her verbal duels with Grant are one of the major features of the film; they sometimes turn into three-way contests when Danielle, played by Brigitte Auber, joins in. (Auber, incidentally, seems miscast. The exchanges between the two women suggest that Danielle is considerably younger than Frances, probably only a teenager. Auber, in fact, was a year older than Kelly).
This is possibly Hitchcock's most light-hearted film, apart from his few ventures into pure comedy such as "Mr and Mrs Smith". If one had to categorise it, it would probably be as a comedy-romance-thriller. Although Hitchcock made a few other films along similar lines, notably "North by Northwest", "To Catch a Thief" contains a greater element of comedy and a lesser element of thrills. There are no great set-piece suspense scenes comparable to the crop-duster and Mount Rushmore sequences in the later movie; indeed, there is very little suspense at all, except in the scene at the end where Robie confronts the "Cat" on the rooftops. The film to which it perhaps bears the greatest resemblance is "Charade", which also starred Cary Grant and an iconic beauty of the screen (in that case Audrey Hepburn) in a French setting. It was, of course, not directed by Hitchcock, but Stanley Donen had clearly absorbed elements of his style. Like "Charade", "To Catch a Thief" is highly enjoyable as a light, glossy romantic comedy, but lacks the tension and psychological depth of Hitchcock's best work. 7/10
