“It takes a thief to catch a thief.” Well, that’s the saying we’ve always heard. In modern day times, we’ve seen it in productions like Fast and Furious, Criminal Minds, and even in comedies like 22 Jump Street. Hitchcock based his movie, To Catch a Thief, solely based on this saying. John Robie (the infamous jewel thief from previous years) is being framed as stealing multiple precious jewels around the city. The culprit has the same technique and does it with the same stealth as Robie did. The police think Robie could be the only one to commit these crimes so he conjures up the idea that he has to catch the actual thief to prove his innocence. In his struggle to do so, he comes into contact with an old friend (Danielle), a jewel insurer, and two ladies from America (a mother and daughter), all who help contribute to the smooth transitions between scenes and an exciting ending. Therefore, To Catch a Thief is a striking movie, being both witty and suspenseful; Alfred Hitchcock creates this feeling by making the movie not too predictable, scripting engaging characters, and keeping scenes implicit.

First off, Hancock set up the movie to where it wasn’t obvious who the jewel thief was, but if you paid attention to detail, you could make a good guess. From the way characters talked, it was believed that a man was the thief. For Robie even says, “He picks perfect victims and only the right stones. Goes up walls, over the roofs, down through the skylights. Leaves no clue and then disappears in the night...If somebody caught this imitator, we'd all be off the hook, wouldn't we?...No one believes me, but the police are chasing the wrong man.” He himself even believes the culprit is a man. This allowed the viewer to be surprised when the real thief was discovered. Danielle also puts on an act that she’s a young girl who only has concerns of girlish things and pretends that she whole-heartedly believes Robie’s stealing the jewels. She even continually says things like, “I've always dreamed of going to South America. People say it's a virgin country. I can cook, sew, keep my mouth shut and peddle stolen jewels on the black market...” The producer also doesn’t focus on her much as a character; therefore, the audience doesn’t pay much attention to her, making us forget that she could easily be the thief. Yet, I love that if one’s really paying attention, you can note that she definitely could be the culprit. She’s constantly bringing up the jewels, she dresses similar to Robie (implying a deeper meaning), she’s athletic, and she knows Robey and his line of work well enough to commit the crime.

Secondly, I enjoyed how the characters blended well together and how each one made the movie interesting. John Robie was the “typical” main male character. He was dashing and handsome yet he was smart and very sarcastic so I was always entertained. Danielle was the very typical love struck teen and I loved her sass. “I was just thinking about you, imagining you in your expensive villa enjoying life, while we work like idiots for a loaf of bread” She brought humor to the movie and in the end, really helped wrap up the movie with our discovery of her being the jewel thief. Francie was very charming and I don’t think I could resist being jealous of her. I loved her pouty attitude and how she was a “go getter,” ultimately getting Robie. I also enjoyed Mrs. Steven’s bluntness and “I’ll do what I want” attitude. She definitely brought comedy to the movie and helped make it move along smoothly.

Lastly, I think it’s nice that the producers left parts up to our imagination to figure out. One example of this is when Robie went to Francie’s room to watch the fireworks show. We all know what happened, but it was nice to not have it thrown in our faces. Another example is when Danielle’s father was killed. I like that it was in the dark and there was no blood or gore. I also like how in the very end, they didn’t go on about how Francie and Robie ended together. They left it to the audience’s imagination how their life turned out together.