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To Catch a Thief

To Catch a Thief
To Catch a Thief.jpg
Original film poster
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by John Michael Hayes
Based on To Catch a Thief
1952 novel
by David Dodge
Starring Cary Grant
Grace Kelly
Jessie Royce Landis
John Williams
Charles Vanel
Brigitte Auber
Music by Lyn Murray
Cinematography Robert Burks
Edited by George Tomasini
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • August 5, 1955 (1955-08-05)
Running time
106 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $2.5 million
Box office $4.5 million (US rentals original release)
$8.75 million

To Catch a Thief is a 1955 romantic thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, from a screenplay by John Michael Hayes based on the 1952 novel of the same name by David Dodge. The film stars Cary Grant as a retired cat burglar who has to save his reformed reputation by catching a new "cat" preying on the wealthy tourists of the French Riviera. Grace Kelly stars opposite him as his romantic interest in her final film with Hitchcock.

John Robie (Cary Grant) is a retired infamous jewel thief or "cat burglar", nicknamed "The Cat", who now lives in a hilltop villa in the French Riviera growing grapes and flowers. The modus operandi of a recent series of robberies leads the police to believe that Robie is active again; they attempt to arrest him, but he gives them the slip.

Robie visits a restaurant. The staff are his old gang from his French Resistance days, paroled based on patriotic war work as long as they keep clean. Bertani, Foussard, and the others blame Robie, because they are currently all under suspicion while the new Cat is active. Still, when the police arrive at Bertani's restaurant, Foussard's teenage daughter Danielle (Brigitte Auber), who has a crush on Robie, spirits him to safety.

Robie can prove his innocence if he can catch the new Cat in the act. He enlists the aid of an insurance man, H. H. Hughson (John Williams), who reluctantly obtains a list of the most expensive jewelry owners currently on the Riviera. Widow Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis) and her daughter Frances (Grace Kelly) top the list. Robie strikes up a friendship with them. Jessie's delighted but Frances offers a pretense of modesty. When Robie and Frances run into Danielle at the beach, Robie keeps up the mask of being a wealthy American tourist, despite Danielle's jealous barbs about his interest in Frances.


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