To Catch a Thief
Short description
John Robie is a former jewel thief who once earned the nickname "The Cat" and now lives quietly on the French Riviera. His retirement is disturbed when a series of burglaries strikes the villas and hotels of the coast, each one carried out in a manner that points straight at him. Suspected by the police and pressed by an insurance investigator, Robie decides the only way to clear himself is to find the imitator. His search brings him into contact with Jessie Stevens, a wealthy American widow, and her daughter Frances, and he draws the two women into his efforts to expose the real culprit.
Alfred Hitchcock directed and produced the film from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes. It is the thirtieth of the forty-three features he directed, arriving between Dial M for Murder and The Trouble with Harry. Cary Grant plays Robie, Grace Kelly plays Frances Stevens, and Jessie Royce Landis plays her mother; John Williams, Charles Vanel and Brigitte Auber appear in supporting roles, with twenty-six performers credited in all. Made for about three million dollars, the film returned roughly nine million worldwide.
Audiences rate the film at 7.4 out of 10 on IMDb, from around 86,000 votes, and 7.3 out of 10 on TMDB, from a much smaller pool of 1,719 votes. A critics' rating of 7.9 out of 10, based on 56 reviews, places it somewhat higher than either audience score.
What's left behind the scenes
- The original ending of the script explained more than is shown in the film's finale, including the arrest of the main antagonist, although the scene hints that he and Brigitte Ober were planning to flee. The screenwriters were very disappointed when Hitchcock changed all of this, so the film's ending became quite abrupt and the film ended on a cheerful note. Hitchcock once wanted to do something similar with "Strangers on a Train" (1951), but the studio did not approve of the idea at the time.
- Cary Grant (1904-1986) announced in February 1953 that he was retiring from acting because, in his own words, he was losing interest as the careers of actors embracing the Stanislavski system (1863-1938), such as Marlon Brando (1924-2004), rose to prominence. Grant was also angered by the way the House Un-American Activities Committee (a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that existed from 1934 to 1975) treated Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977). Grant was persuaded to return to filming for this movie, and he continued to act for another 11 years.
- Hitchcock's cameo – at the 9-minute mark, he is a passenger on the bus next to Cary Grant.
- During filming, Grace Kelly met the Prince of Monaco, her future husband.
- Director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) inquired whether the chase scene could be filmed from a helicopter. Special mounts didn't exist at the time, but the camera was successfully secured to a civilian Sikorsky H-5 helicopter with the side door removed using ropes and cables.
- The film was shot in the summer of 1954, but its release was postponed because the producers felt that viewers would not believe in the romantic relationship between the characters due to the significant age difference between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. As it turned out, after the film's release, it became one of the most popular films of the decade.
- Alfred Hitchcock filmed this movie because he wanted to relax in the south of France.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
