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Although "To Catch a Thief" is one of Hitchcock's trifles, it's an enjoyable one. Playing almost like a leisurely travelogue (Hitch went to the South of France to shoot location footage), I always got the impression that Hitch used this as an excuse to take a holiday and then come up to justify the expense. Made in the middle of Hitch's most productive, creative period as an artist (Hitch made "Strangers on a Train", "Dial M for Murder", "Rear Window" all before this film and "The Trouble with Harry", "The Man Who Knew Too Much", "Vertigo" and "North by Northwest" in the years after this film). It's an enjoyable romp with Grace Kelly in her last role (and she looks stunning) and Grant in his next-to-last appearance in a Hitchcock film (Hitchcock had a love/hate relationship with Grant; Grant was extremely difficult to work with for Hitchcock often committing to a film like "Rope" and then pulling out. That's not to suggest that Hitchcock was easy to work with either). ***

Grant plays John Robie a retired thief nicknamed "The Cat". He has given up crime to become respectable and lives along the French Riveria. Somebody using the Cat's techniques is robbing the rich again and Robie must discover who it is or face losing his freedom. ***

Working with John Michael Hayes one of the best screenwriters to work with Hitch, "To Catch a Thief". Hitch works with his usual team of collaborators in crafting a fun, fluffy entertainment. To expect anything more is to have unrealistic expectations. Although this may be "lesser" Hitch, it's still Hitch putting together the entertaining elements that have always been at the center of his more serious works ("Vertigo") and lighter entertainments ("North by Northwest"). Although Grant isn't given anything as substantial as his role in "North by Northwest" (the last film that Grant would make for Hitchcock although Hitchcock did try to coax him out of retirement for "Torn Curtain"), he's charming and suave as always. ---

Image & Sound:

This is the third go round for "To Catch A Thief" and it appears as if this transfer may be the same as the previous one. If not, they look darn close. It's possible that Paramount prepared this from a high def source for Blu-ray release eventually but I can't say definitively. I can say that this version blows away the first version on DVD which had dirt, grit and was much more washed out looking than this version. This is probably the best I've seen the film with little in the way of digital or analog artifacts. The level of color seen in the film was typical of films made in the 50's with richer, saturated levels than more contemporary films. ***

Paramount includes a stereo surround mix that sounds adequate although it could be a bit more expansive. The original mono soundtrack and mix are available as well. -- ---

We get a new commentary track from Drew Casper an expert on Hitchcock from USC. Casper drives me batty with his commentary tracks--they are usually quite informative but there's something that just bugs me about the guy. ***

The rest of the extras have been ported over to disc two for this special edition. "A Night with the Hitchcocks" features Casper interviewing Hitch's daughter Patricia and her daughter Mary Stone about the making of the film. The audience also gets to ask questions about Alfred and Alma Hitchcock (they were always a team as filmmakers) and their career. ***

"Unacceptable Under the Code" focuses on the Production Code, the limitations that it put on filmmakers in the 1950's and provides a history of the Production Code. Hitchcock was an expert at playing censors often suggesting a scene that he never intended on shooting and giving in on that particular scene or agreeing to trim scenes and then never doing it knowing that the people that previewed the films wouldn't remember. ***

We also get a brief but informative featurette with film critic Richard Schickel discussing the work of Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in the film. ***

"Writing and Casting 'To Catch a Thief'", "The Making of 'To Catch a Thief'", "Alfred Hitchcock and 'To Catch a Thief'" and "Edith Head: The Paramount Years" all appeared on the previous edition. The first featurette has Steven DeRosa author of Writing With Hitchcock a book that looked at the films that screenwriter John Michael Hayes and Hitchcock made together. Their collaboration wasn't always smooth sailing as Hayes had very strong suggestions about the films he scripted for Hitchcock while Hitchcock felt that Hayes often was treading on ground that should be reserved for the director. ***

"The Making of" featurette has some interesting stories from the surviving production crew and amusing stories about the on location shooting of the film. Likewise "Edith Head" is fascinating. Head designed costumes for a number of major directors and films but her collaborations with Hitchcock displayed a perfect meeting of the minds. "AH" briefly looks at Hitch's personality and includes home movie footage

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