10.19.2010

to catch a thief


the year: 1955

the genre: suspense


the cast: Cary Grant (John Robie); Grace Kelly (Frances Stevens); Jessie Royce Landis (Jessie Stevens); John Williams (H.H. Hughson); Brigitte Auber (Danielle Foussard)


the plot: American expatriate (and retired cat burglar) John Robie lives in high style on the French Riviera. When a wave of copycat (Scott and Blaine, that was for you) jewel thefts begin, he must find out who the copy cat is to keep the thefts from being pinned on him. High on list of prime victims is Jessie Stevens, in Europe to help daughter Frances find a suitable husband.



don't miss: how John uses a roulette player to get Jessie's attention in the casino.



watch for: Mrs. Jessie Stevens' changing room number at the hotel. On the list of jewelry owners, the room number is given as 541, but when John Robie accompanies Mrs. Stevens and her daughter to their rooms, the numbers on their doors are 625 and 623 respectively.



did you know: Cary Grant came out of retirement to make this film.



listen for: "Are you sure you were talking about water skis? From where I sat it looked as though you were conjugating some irregular verbs."



extra bonus points: if you know what's interesting about John Robie mentioning that as a youth he was in a trapeze group that traveled around Europe.



also listen for: "What do you say?" "My only comment would be highly censorable."



And a special thanks to Scott for making sure this was on my "to see" list!

5 comments:

Laney said...

This is probably my favorite Cary Grant movie. LOVE IT!

Wasn't Cary in his Archie days part of a traveling troupe?

Millie Motts said...

Ding,ding,ding,ding!! Correct.
Cary Grant was in an acrobatic troupe that toured around Europe (and eventually came to America) when he was 14.

Aubree Legler said...

"drinking dulls your senses."

"and if i'm lucky some of my hearing"

great movie. :)

Erika said...

(whispered confession) I've never seen this movie.

Guess that will the next one I rent.

Scott said...

An interesting exercise is counting how many times Grace Kelly changes her clothes in one day.

Also answer this riddle: "How many chickens does it take to derail a French police investigation?"

Bravo, Gina, for hunkering down to watch Hitchcock. Have you come around to see Gazebo, yet?