Rating: 2.5/5
A thief is stealing jewels, and the town suspects former thief John Robie (Cary Grant). To prove his innocence, he works with the insurance agent who insured the stolen jewels to get a list of the targets to, you know, catch the thief. His first mark: Jessie (Jessie Royce Landis) and Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly)
John Michael Hayes’s script is primarily in service of clever repartee, and you’re either up for it, or you aren’t. It works better in some scenes than in others
I ended up watching this at 1.5x to deal with the snail pacing. It would be fine if it didn’t want to convey tension or action, but every other piece of the filmmaking suggests otherwise
Perfect for the Hollywood/Hitchcock diehards, but a bit of a slog otherwise
Stray Thoughts
- The cat on the roof as a stand-in for the cat burglar is cute
- The maître’d popping his champagne bottle at the sight of Cary Grant is a mood