As part of my year of rewatching Hitchcock's filmography I revisited To Catch a Thief, one of the director's "romantic" films, for Valentines Day. With hardly any thriller elements at all and a focus on the banter between the characters, Thief is a departure for the film maker despite how well he had crafted romantic elements in his more typical films. But I kept waiting for the film to catch me and it never was able to. I struggled to get into the story or care about the characters. By the end I had to admit that this is not one of my favourites of his films.
One thing I've been noticing is Hitchcock's ease with clever romantic banter and developing chemistry between his leads. So it came as quite a surprise that I felt Grant and Kelly had so little connection. I never once felt their chemistry, never once felt the pull to see them get together. And since the film is mostly built around that arc, it didn't leave a lot more to get interested in. For two actors I generally enjoy seeing on screen, here they left me feeling rather flat.
The idea for the story really isn't bad, but the story kept getting detoured for the romance that just wasn't there. The whole catching of the thief plot felt sidelined and never invested us enough to make it work. So for me neither the romance nor the mystery worked.
I'm not saying it was terrible, but it just didn't engage me enough to care. While I have been gaining a new appreciation for many of the director's work, this one still misses the mark for me.
To Catch a Thief
Starring: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: John Michael Hayes
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