To Catch A Thief (1955)

To Catch A Thief (1955)

In Alfred Hitchcock's lightweight, suspenseful and polished romantic comedy/thriller and mystery-heist film (with a European flair and racy dialogue) - the leisurely-paced film was set on the colorful French Riviera, where a nighttime jewel-thief (a "Cat" burglar) was creating panic amongst the visitors and residents. The relaxed plot lacked some of the profound psychological depth and complexity of the director's other works, although its main theme was to observe the morality of the act of "theft" from many different points of view.

The stylish film's screenplay, by John Michael Hayes (in his second project with Hitchcock), was based on the novel of the same name by David Dodge. Hitchcock's film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Color Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Color Costume Design (Edith Head), and its sole winning category - Best Color Cinematography (Robert Burks).

The sexy caper was filmed in VistaVision and Technicolor, and partially on-location. There were exotic settings (i.e., The Hotel Carlton on the Riviera) and fashions, snatches of French, witty (but risque and naughty) double-entendres-laden dialogue, and an elegantly-orchestrated romance. The film's title, To Catch a Thief, was based upon the ancient proverb: "Set a thief to catch a thief," with double meanings regarding a double-chase. The romantic-thriller was much imitated at the time, e.g., Charade (1963) and Arabesque (1966).

Cary Grant's portrayal of the lead character - an American expatriate hero (a falsely-accused former cat burglar) had to catch the real cat burglar (a 'she-cat') during a rash of robberies before he was caught himself, while the heroine Grace Kelly was on a quest to 'catch' him - first as the burglar, and then as a husband. The infamous MacGuffin in this Hitchcock film was the identity of the real thief. It was Cary Grant's third (of four) film for Hitchcock (after Suspicion (1941) and Notorious (1946) ), and Kelly's third and final film for the famous director (after Dial M For Murder (1954) and Rear Window (1954) ), soon before she left her film career forever and married Prince Rainier of Monaco.

• the opening view was a close-up of a poster in a travel service window that advertised: "If you love life, you'll love France" - it was immediately followed by another close-up view of a distressed female (with her face smeared with cold-cream) on vacation in Nice, France; she was screaming "My jewels! I've been robbed. Someone stole my jewels. Help, police!" after she noticed her empty jewelry case in her French Riviera hotel room; she finished her outrage from her balcony overlooking a beautiful of an idyllic vacation spot
• the film emphasized the motif of a stealthy, prowling jewel thief (cat burglar) that had committed the crime; a montage presented a view of an actual black cat crossing a slatted, tiled rooftop at night, and entering another room to remove a pile of valuable jewels with a black-gloved hand, before exiting the same roof; there was a rash of similar crimes being committed on wealthy victims in Cannes

• in a cliffside Cote d'Azur villa near Cannes, a black cat lounged on a sofa next to an excerpt from a Herald Tribune newspaper article titled EUROPE'S LIGHTER SIDE by Art Buchwald, "The Cat Prowls Again?"; it speculated that a possible suspect for the authorities was a reformed and retired ex-burglar (for 15 years) and "hero of the French Resistance Army" - American-born bachelor John Robie (Cary Grant), known as "The Cat"; the thief was either Robie or someone who was imitating his modus operandi; out tending his outdoor garden, Robie (wearing a dark blue and white horizontally-striped shirt and a red kerchief (resembling a cat collar) watched as a black car sped up to his residence and parked in his driveway; head detective and Police Commissioner Lepic (Rene Blancard) and other officers emerged from the car to question Robie
• after speaking to the officials for a few moments, Robie returned to his upstairs bedroom to change his clothes and a shotgun blast rang out; he fled to the rooftop where he watched as the police chased after a car as it sped off from the villa; the pursuit was photographed from the air and ultimately was revealed to be a diversion - his maid Germaine (Georgette Anys) was eventually apprehended in the getaway car
• to successfully escape, Robie boarded a bus to Monte Carlo in Monaco, and sat in the rear seat, while he watched through the back window as detectives returned to his villa; he was squeezed on the bench seat between a cage containing two fluttering birds (enticing to a cat) and a portly passenger (director Hitchcock's cameo)
• once Robie reached Monte Carlo on the French Riviera, and before the police trailed and arrested him; he met with his old ex-con colleagues in a coastal restaurant - including restauranteur owner and head waiter Bertani (Charles Vanel), wine steward Foussard (Jean Martinelli) and numerous kitchen employees; they had all been imprisoned together during WWII, but escaped and then served in the underground Resistance movement against the Germans; after the war, Robie was paroled and rehabilitated, but had for a time gained notoriety as a jewel thief, although he now claimed he hadn't "stolen a piece of jewelry in 15 years"; however, they all feared that Robie's reputation would be discrediting to them

• Robie's goal was to clear his name by investigating the crime wave on his own, and find the real thief who was copy-catting and imitating his crime methods; he would use his burglary experience to ultimately unmask the real culprit; he asked himself: "What I can't understand is how this thief can imitate me so perfectly"; Robie was alerted that the police had trailed him to the restaurant
• he was helped to escape via a speedy motor-boat by wine steward Foussard's smitten young, blonde daughter Danielle Foussard (Brigitte Auber); he had known her since her childhood when he taught her English; during their boatride, even though she suspected he was the recent cat-burglar, she playfully propositioned him to marry her and go to South America to escape the police [Note: Spoiler Clue: she was wearing a similar, look-alike shirt - with red and white horizontal stripes]; as a police flew overhead, he was taken by a speedboat ("Maquis Mouse") to a nearby, luxury beach club at a Cannes hotel where he was to await Bertani's phone call
• Robie had changed into red-plaid swim trunks on the boat, and while lounging on the hotel's beach, Robie (and the audience) had their first view of beautiful, lanky and cool blonde Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly) in a yellow turban and sunglasses who was applying sun-tan lotion
• after being contacted by Bertani, Robie pursued his own investigation of the recent string of 'cat' burglaries by meeting at a flower market in Nice with H. H. Hughson (John Williams) - an insurance adjuster of Lloyds of London (with a subsidiary company known as Bellason & Co.) that was losing money after the rash of thefts; although it was a risky request, Robie asked for a detailed list of names of those on the Riviera who were heavily-insured clients with expensive jewels (supposedly, they would be the Cat's next victims); before receiving the list, Robie was detained by the police and then returned to his home on parole for 10 days, where he sat on his villa's veranda with Hughson; as Robie cheerfully acknowledged his past crimes, he was able to successfully bargain with the reluctant Hughson to assent to giving him a list of rich clients so that he could investigate, catch the real burglar, and prove his innocence (in other words, employ a thief to catch a thief); the police had been informed about their plan
• one of the names on the insured list was affluent, nouveau riche American widow - an oil millionairess named Mrs. Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis), who was traveling with her daughter Frances and staying at the Carlton Hotel; the Stevens' had principal pieces of jewelry insured for and valued at 280,000ドル.00; after playing at the roulette wheel table, Robie was able to maneuver drinks with Mrs. Stevens and her spoiled yet refined and quiet daughter (who had attended "finishing school"), by posing as a wealthy Oregon lumber magnate named Conrad Burns; while half-drunk, Mrs. Stevens spoke about how the unexpected death of her "swindler" husband and the discovery of oil on his property made her a millionaire overnight; she was husband-hunting for her pretty, virginal socialite daughter Frances and was pushing for Burns as a prospective suitor
• afterwards, Robie escorted both women to their separate hotel suites; as he guided Frances to her room, to his complete surprise, the seemingly-modest Frances unlocked her hotel room door, turned - and then after a warm glance into his eyes, she seductively placed her arm around his shoulder and passionately kissed him (the kiss was initiated by her); without a word, she then backed away, and shut her door; he slowly turned toward the camera with a satisfied smile on his lip-stick stained lips

• the next morning, it was learned that the cat burglar had again struck and stolen more gems worth 35,000ドル from another client, Mme. LaRue; during the breakfast scene, in one of the most memorable and vulgar images on screen, an exasperated Mrs. Stevens extinguished or stubbed out her lighted cigarette (a phallic symbol) in the yolk of a fried egg, while being warned about keeping her jewelry in her safe by Hughson

• Frances attracted attention in the hotel's foyer with Robie as she joined him for a swim - she was fashionably decked out in a high-necked, black bathing suit, oversized white sunhat, and white coverup; at the concierge's desk, Robie was passed a hand-written note: "Robie - You've already used up 8 of your 9 lives. Don't gamble your last one"
• while Robie was reclining on a beach chair with Frances, cute teenaged brunette Danielle caught Robie's attention in her bathing suit as she swam out to the hotel's floating raft and reclined suggestively; Robie followed Danielle, who suspected that he was probably setting up another jewelry victim ("an American beauty" with money), after the previous night's robbery; she also informed him that the recent theft by his ex-convict Resistance friends at the restaurant and in the kitchen led them to hate him and threaten to kill him (they were worried about suspicions being cast onto them)
• Frances swam out and joined them at the hotel's floating raft, where the two bitchy and competitive females engaged in a verbal 'cat'-fight over the bemused Robie as they tread water on either side and flirtatiously quarreled over him; after the threesome's discussion, Robie went to his dressing room where he found that Hughson's list of clients was marked with a wet thumbprint; when Robie returned to the hotel from the beach, Frances confronted him at the hotel's front entrance; rather than join him for cocktails at six that evening, she wished for Robie to immediately join her for a picnic basket lunch; she offered to chauffeur him (with no tipping at a "wholesale rate") in her open convertible sports car to visit prospective villas for rent: ("I have my car and a basket lunch with chicken and beer"); he agreed: "I must say your terms are generous, too generous to refuse"; as they drove off from the front of the hotel, they were pursued by a car with two detectives
• at first, she briefly explained her abrupt good-night kiss the night before: "Well, I'm a great believer of getting down to essentials"; their first stop was at the Sanford villa, where they walked in the outdoor gardens as he surveyed the roof and gutter pipes for access; Frances revealed that she was slightly jealous of Danielle - the teenaged French girl; Robie called Frances out for being a rich, insecure pampered young woman who was husband-hunting (but unsure whether men wanted her money or her appeal)

• their drive continued, and evolved into a tense and swervy car ride to evade the pursuit car of detectives, as she calmly gripped the wheel with dainty white gloves; after the chase car crashed into a stone wall, the pursuit ended; she excitedly revealed that she knew he wasn't Mr. Burns, and suspected that he was the jewel thief John Robie (she was thrilled by his masquerade that made him more attractive to her)
• Frances parked at a "lonely and secluded" picnic spot that she had picked out, overlooking a seaside town on the Cote d'Azur, and thought out-loud: "And all those roofs you could climb over"; they shared the contents of her picnic basket placed on the front seat (he sat on the floorboard with his legs out the open passenger door); their conversation turned particularly saucy and was filled with witty double entendres and sexy innuendo; when she passed him a beer, he asked: "You got an opener?"; in a famous provocatively-teasing line, Francie made an offer to Robie, referring to the fried chicken (and more) that she had brought on the picnic, causing him to do a double-take: Frances: "Do you want a leg or a breast?" Robie: "You make the choice"
• Frances made some seductive suggestions to Robie, including joining him for his next heist ("job") of either her mother or wealthy Lady Kenton - and provocatively asked: "The cat has a new kitten. When do we start?"; he tightly gripped her arm and pulled her down on top of the picnic basket to 'steal' a kiss from her and make her part of the lunch feast; she pressured him to join her for cocktails at 8 and dinner at 8:30 "all in my suite" - so they could watch the casino's fireworks show together
• later that evening in Frances' hotel suite, 'sexual' fireworks burst within the room between them - she had invitingly turned out the lights: "If you really want to see the fireworks, it's better with the lights out. I have a feeling that tonight, you're going to see one of the Riviera's most fascinating sights. I was talking about the fireworks....The way you looked at my necklace, I didn't know"; real fireworks exploded through the open doors in the background (over the water in the night sky); she stood in the dark shadows as she described a thwarted theft attempt - and then tempted him with the offer of herself and her valuable necklace: "The thrill is right there in front of you, but you can't quite get it - and the gems glistening on the other side of the window, and someone asleep, breathing heavily"; she fondled and stroked her own necklace and tantalizingly discussed the diamonds she was wearing: ("Blue-white with just hairlike touches of platinum")
• then, she begged Robie to make her his accomplice at the next weekend's annual gala - a costume ball held at the Sanford's villa that he had cased that afternoon: ("There will be thousands upon thousands of dollars' worth of the world's most elegant jewelry...We'll get all the information, and we'll do it together. What do you say?"; acting as an exploitative predator, she enticed him by sitting on the couch and displaying her white strapless gown and his main weakness - her sparkling, glistening diamond necklace as the ultimate prize (the word 'diamonds' referred to her necklace and her bare decolletage and breasts); she encouraged him to look and see their beauty: "Give up, John. Admit who you are. Even in this light, I can tell where your eyes are looking. (He sat down) Look, John. Hold them. Diamonds. The only thing in the world you can't resist. Then tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. (She kissed his fingers, one by one, and then put her necklace in the palm of his hand.) Ever had a better offer in your whole life? One with everything?"; he responded: "I've never had a crazier one." She purred: "Just as long as you're satisfied." He remarked about her fake diamond necklace: "You know as well as I do. This necklace is imitation," to which she replied: "Well, I'm not." (They kissed)
• the scene climaxed with the white-hot, orgasmic peak of the colorful fireworks exhibition bursting in a vibrant closeup in the night sky, illuminating the intensity of their kiss in the dark - and the imminent loss of her virginity - before a fade to black; the scene was one of filmdom's most blatantly-sexual images
• later that evening, Frances abruptly opened Robie's lower floor hotel room door, and was shown in a dark silhouette while casting light onto him, she accused him of being responsible for the loss (theft) of her mother's jewels (and her own sexual loss of virginity) by distracting her earlier that evening: "Give them back to me...Mother's jewels!"; she searched in his room while he went to search in her mother's room; there, when Mrs. Stevens wondered why Frances had suspected him, he confessed to her that he was "The Cat": ("My real name is John Robie. I used to be a jewel thief several years ago") - she was both stunned and thrilled; he then denied stealing her jewels that evening, although Frances arrived and accused him of committing the theft and told them that she had already summoned the police; by the time the police arrived, Robie had slipped out unseen to the roof and escaped; the next morning, Mrs. Stevens pointedly and cryptically asked why Frances was so upset about the theft or her mother's jewels (she also sensed that her daughter had just lost her virginity): "Just what did he steal from you?"
• shortly later in the film, Robie proposed that Hughson set a trap for the real cat-burglar by staking out the villa of the Silvas - a South American couple who were insured and on Hughson's list; Robie would also be there, knowing that others in the group (including Foussard and Bertani and the police) were lying in wait to seize him; the trap backfired - Robie was jumped from behind in the dark on a high wall by an unknown assailant and a wrench was raised high in the air; one man fell to his death from the top of a wall into the rocky beach water, and Robie escaped
• the next day, Nice newspapers reported: "Le Chat Est Mort" - the victim was identified as Danielle's father Foussard (the restaurant's wine-steward); police mistakenly thought he was The Cat, and everyone was relieved, until Robie informed the Police Commissioner and Hughson that it was impossible for peg-legged Foussard (with a prosthetic leg) to climb rooftops during robberies; however, the public still believed that Foussard was the 'Cat Burglar'
• during Foussard's funeral, Danielle angrily yelled French epithets at Robie and publically accused him of murdering her father; indignant, he slapped her across the face and then pushed his way through the crowd to leave [Note: Similarly, the police suspected that the Cat burglar - or Robie - was Foussard's murderer. It was later revealed, however, that the murderer was Bertani.]
• outside the cemetery, Frances apologized for accusing Robie of being the thief - she also confessed that she loved him: ("I'm in love with you") and would help him to find the real cat burglar; he asked for her to obtain an invitation to the weekend's major costume gala at the Sanford's Cote d'Azur villa; he would accompany Francie and her mother to the estate's fancy event, wearing Louis XV outfits; Robie promised that she would "see a real live burglary in action"

• they both attended the estate's fancy event (filmed with many closeups of the sparkling bejeweled necklaces worn by the ladies during a costume parade), being catered by Bertani and his restaurant staff, with Danielle (in a black and white French maid's outfit) assisting; Frances wore a glittering Louis XV-era gold-gown, while Robie wore a black Moorish nubian slave outfit with a mask - he was clearly identified to the police that he was behind the disguise; during the costume ball, however, Robie had arranged to switch places with Hughson, allowing him to freely conduct surveillance on the estate's green-tiled rooftop and track the real Cat during the entire costume ball; once the event ended, exhausted guests returned to their rooms to retire for the night - removing their expensive jewelry and depositing it on nightstands and dressers
• in the film's conclusion, a close-up in one of the guest rooms revealed black-gloved hands scooping up jewelry into a black bag; in hiding, Robie noticed a black-clad figure exiting a window (after major jewel thefts) and traversing the rooftop - he froze, spied the figure, and then chased after it; Robie caught up to the masked thief - grabbed the individual - and unmasked DANIELLE

• a light was directed toward the rooftop and caught Robie in the spotlight, and shots were fired at him, but he proved his innocence and was able to reveal the real masked copycat thief - young blonde Danielle Foussard; as she tried to escape and jump to a nearby tree, she tripped and slid down to the roof's gutter; she was hanging there precariously by one hand; to be saved, as Robie held onto her wrist and dangled her in mid-air, she dropped a bag full of jewels to the ground far below, and then was forced to loudly confess that her father Foussard and restauranteur Bertani had planned all of the robberies: ("I was working for my father...Bertani was behind it")
• in the final short scene set at Robie's Cote d'Azur villa, Frances (still wearing her gold gown from the costume ball) had pursued him there in a police car and approached him on his veranda; she urged and pressured Robie into admitting that he was in love with her; he obliged her by repeating what she had dictated to him: "Without you, I couldn't have done it. I needed the help of a woman. I guess I'm not the lone wolf I thought I was, Francie"
• as they were about to say goodbye with a handshake, he pulled her arm toward him for an embrace and kiss; Frances had finally nabbed the slightly-dismayed Robie - as she triumphantly noted in the last line that she was domesticating him: "So this is where you live. Oh, Mother will love it up here!"