Four scenes, depicted by the master of suspense, catch our attention: Stevens (Jessica Royce Landis) and her cool, beautiful and sensual daughter Frances (Grace Kelly). Here we discover a future victim, the rich Mrs. Hughson) whose Insurance Company has been victim of great robberies, gives Robie what he wants: A list of their wealthy clients whom might be future candidates on the list of the skillful thief. Robie is worried how to catch the real thief being himself subject to harass! The characteristic plot of Hitchcock: To chase and to be chased at the same time. They would like to catch him in the act and finish with him in jail. They had his hallmark stamped and classified. Naturally, the police in Cannes is blaming him. But, who is the 'Cat'? Surely someone is imitating his old style, using his ability and skill, almost his cleverness and talent. Robie is seen upset, bothered, and worried because the 'Cat' prowls again. From there, Hitchcock introduces us to John Robie (Cary Grant), a retired jewel burglar known as the 'Cat' who is living in peaceful isolation in Cannes. A black cat - in each robbery - is roaming stealthily in fear and shame along the roof of the elegant Carlton. We are taken by Alfred Hitchcock to the French Riviera where a series of robberies are occurring, and women screaming that their precious jewels are stolen. Viewers seeking a pleasant film with a romantic touch will enjoy it a great deal. While it will never compete with the more famous VERTIGO and REAR WINDOW of the same period, it is extremely well done and quite a bit of fun to watch. Unlike most Hitchcock's most famous films, TO CATCH A THIEF offers nothing dark to trouble our thoughts, and it is perhaps best regarded as a romantic fantasia, the director's vacation from his more typical material. As the police close in, the three of them devise a plot to expose the thief and clear Grant, with whom Kelly has now fallen in love. In the process he encounters an icy beauty (Kelly) who takes considerable pleasure in tantalizing him with her charms, her jewels, and her knowledge of his criminal past, and her mother (Landis), who is perhaps the best of the "clever matrons" to appear in any Hitchcock film. The well known story concerns a string of jewel robberies along the Riviera which lead local officials to suspect that a famous and long retired cat burglar (Grant) is once more on the prowl-but rather than hope the authorities will find the real culprit Grant elects to protect himself by unmasking the thief for himself. Rainier, who did not remarry, was buried alongside his beloved wife after his death in 2005.There is much to like about Hitchcock's TO CATCH A THIEF: Cary Grant and Grace Kelly at the height of their appeal, a witty script that offers Jessie Royce Landis one of the funniest roles ever seen in any Hitchcock film, and excellent cinematography designed to show off the beauties of Monte Carlo-all packaged in a lightweight tale that is two parts romance, two parts travelogue, one part comedy, and just enough classic Hitchcock suspense to keep this lighter-than-air confection from flying apart. Stéphanie suffered a light concussion and a hairline fracture of a cervical vertebra, and was unable to attend her mother's funeral. She died the following night, aged 52, after Rainier decided to turn off her life support. The Princess was taken to the Monaco Hospital, which was later named the Princess Grace Hospital Centre, with injuries to the brain and thorax and a fractured femur. Stéphanie tried but failed to regain control of the car. Her daughter Stéphanie, a teenager at the time, was in the passenger seat. She lost control of her car and drove off the steep, winding road and down the 120-foot mountainside. On September 13, 1982, Grace suffered a mild cerebral haemorrhage while driving in Monaco. Hitchcock hoped he could persuade her out of retirement in order to appear in more of his films - but she refused. Princess Grace was known for her blonde, perfectly coiffed tresses and her large, doe-eyed look on-screen.Īfter she married at the age of 26, Grace chose to put her acting aspirations to the side so she could perform her duties as a princess as well as pursue philanthropic work.
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