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To Catch a Thief, a review by Achim

Title: To Catch a Thief
Year: 1955
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: NR
Length: 106 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Surround, English: Dolby Digital Mono, French: Dolby Digital Mono, Commentary: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Cary Grant
Grace Kelly
Jessie Royce Landis
John Williams (1903)
Charles Vanel

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Trailers
Featurettes
Closed Captioned

Hmmm, a bit (just a bit though) disappointed here. I remembered this way more exciting than it was, from when I saw it numerous time as a kid. Well, if The Trouble With Harry was Hitchcock's take on a comedy then To Catch a Thief is his attempt at a romance. There is hardly any suspense, really, except for the exciting roof top scene at the end. Heck, technically this is even a "whodunnit", something Hitchcock normally despised (at least didn't care about) and avoided to do. He could have improved it a bit by fleshing out some of the other suspects a little better.

Disappointed aside, this is a very good film (just not what you'd expect from the master of suspense...). The dialog is extremely good, delivered with excellent timing, especially by the three lead cast members. The first half is also very comedy-like, where Cary Grant even gets to do his schtick a few times. The characters are all quite well motivated and the romance developed quite nicely and even for today's standards considerably believable. Of course Cary Grant was actually much too old to be the love interest (yes, you read that right), but he sure was still extremely handsome.


The fireworks scene was much better in my memory than what I saw on screen.



(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on August 18th, 2009)

All Night Long, a review by Antares

All Night Long (1962) 82/100 - From what I've read, this is based upon Shakespeare's Othello, but having never read or watched the play, I can't comment on that aspect of the story. But I do know Jazz music, and this film has a crisp, cool atmosphere to it and the performances by Dave Brubeck, Tubby Hayes and Charlie Mingus are all first rate, along with Marti Stevens belting out a couple of tunes. In fact, the music really takes center stage as it helps to evoke the emotions that are slowly ramping up as Patrick McGoohan's character slowly and methodically torches a relationship. The story works for the first hour or so, but then when McGoohan uses a reel to reel tape player to edit a couple of conversations, you can feel the air go out of the balloon. Maybe there was no other way to incorporate one of Shakespeare's key moments in the play, but this plot device flies in the face of reality. How could his character not realize that eventually his machinations would be exposed, especially by the party's host? Still, it's a gripping yarn that takes a few bold leaps in its story arc. You get to see two characters smoking a joint, and there are two interracial couples that nary warrant an askew glance from anyone at the party. This is definitely a film that could not, or would not play in the Deep South at the time it was released.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on May 8th, 2014)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

21. Benediction
Original Air Date: 5/13/2002
Holtz returns from the Quor-toth dimension and sets into motion the final part of his revenge against Angel.

Guest Stars:
Vincent Kartheiser
Laurel Holloman
Mark Lutz
Stephanie Romanov
Keith Szarabajka

My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this one. It was fun to watch Angel and Connor fighting side by side. And how they fight so similar even though he grew up apart from Angel. Though I do think the whole Cordelia's new power saving the day in a previous episode... and her new power "curing" Connor in this episode is a little much. Seems like they are using it as a serve all purpose type thing at this point.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on March 15th, 2010)