To catch a thief
I have this strange habit of confusing “To catch a thief” with “Cat on a hot tin roof”. This is probably due to the fact that “To catch a thief” is literally about a burglar, the Cat, who runs on roofs. It’s silly. But I know that much, Cary Grant and Paul Newman are as different from each other as Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor are, and the tone and storyline of the two films could also not be more different. But since I have not seen the latter (maybe I will soon), I still confuse them.
The film was largely a typical Hitchcock until Grace Kelly’s speeding through the mountains scene. Coupled with Cary Grant’s uniquely funny scared face, this was easily the funniest scene of the entire film, and one of the reasons why I think that this is one of the better Hitchcocks. Amusingly enough, I think that Hitchcock is really great at comedy (evidenced by my love for “The truth about Harry”), and “To catch a thief” is one of these great amalgams of amusing scenes with suspenseful detective story.
Strangely enough, I did not think that the two had very great chemistry, but I rarely think so anyways. Grace Kelly is just too perfect? She is fun, confident and even grabs the guy she wants by asking him out openly. She is quite beautiful and yet, I do not know what it is that makes me dislike her. In “Rear Window” she also had the role of the independent, strong-willed, happy, educated, dashingly beautiful woman who takes action to get what she wants. Something is just off with her, and it might well be that – for once – I think that an actress could be too perfect.
I also don’t know why that French girl was portrayed as so strangely nasty. There are a million beautiful French actresses out there, but they had to pick one who could obviously not rival Grace Kelly in beauty, and give the role of a tomboy who is too full of herself.
In the end, however, “To catch a thief” was an amusing and well-crafted story, typical for Hitchcock. I think that it looked very pleasant and was even more entertaining than his usual films (I think this one is better than, say, “39 Steps”). Nevertheless, it does not compare to my favorites of his films.