To Catch a Thief (Special Collector's Edition)

Product Description Cary Grant plays John Robie, reformed jewel thief who was once known as "The Cat," in this suspenseful Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller. Robie is suspected of a new rash of gem thefts in the luxury hotels of the French Riviera, and he must set out to clear himself. Meeting pampered heiress Frances (Grace Kelly), he sees a chance to bait the mysterious thief with her mother's (Jessie Royce Landis) fabulous jewels. His plan backfires, however, but France, who believes him guilty, proves her love by helping him escape. In a spine-tingling climax, the real criminal is exposed. Amazon.com One of the creamiest of all of Alfred Hitchcock's films, To Catch a Thief is something like pure pleasure. Begin ticking off the ingredients of this 1955 movie and you'll get the picture: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, the French Riviera, champagne, fireworks, cat burglary. Mmm, it already feels good. Grant plays a retired thief who becomes a suspect when valuable things begin disappearing along the Cote d'Azur. The diamonds hanging from the well-sculpted neck of Grace Kelly would appear to be the newest target, but it's just possible that actual romance might also be wafting through the Mediterranean air. The lightness of the story keeps To Catch a Thief from being one of the masterpieces of Hitchcock's great run in the 1950s, but it is very difficult to cavil about the sunny locations, Grant's elegant aplomb, and Kelly's shrewd withholding of her sexual interest beneath the ice-queen exterior. John Michael Hayes provided the amusing script (which stretches double entendres to their limit, especially in a romantic discussion of fried chicken), Edith Head the splendid costumes. If the movie has any weight at all, it's in proving that at this point in his career Hitchcock was consumed with charting the tricky terrain of male-female courtship; if issues of trust are treated here with a light touch, they nevertheless matter as much as the mechanical working-out of Mr. H's suspense stories. --Robert Horton Additional Features The remastered print for this 2007 DVD release is a handsome job from the original VistaVision elements (Robert Burks won the Oscar for color cinematography, and now you can see why). The restoration is the main reason for this Special Collector's Edition, which otherwise brings back some featurettes from an earlier DVD release of the film; these provide a decent, if somewhat bland, background on the making of the movie (Hitchcock's daughter Patricia and granddaughter Mary Stone figure prominently in the interviews, and their warm memories set the tone). It's fun to hear the scoop about how Cary Grant came to wear that great striped long-sleeved T-shirt, by the way. Also back is a 13-minute profile of Edith Head's years as a Paramount costume designer. The new addition is a commentary track from documentary-maker Laurent Bouzereau and director Peter Bogdanovich, neither of whom tries to make a case for To Catch a Thief as one of Hitchcock's major works. And Bogdanovich can always be relied on to recall his personal friendships with Hitchcock and Grant--and his Hitchcock imitation is as spot-on as ever. --Robert Horton