Summary
A retired jewel thief is suspected by the authorities, and everyone else, of committing a new string of burglaries. The only solution to his problem seems to be using his expertise to catch the real thief.
Sunday Afternoon
I was pretty excited to see this and review this film. Hitchcock is great. Grace Kelly (“Rear Window”) is great. Cary Grant (“Notorious”) is great. What’s not to like?
Perhaps I had my hopes too high or being a 21st century film viewer, I’m just not as easily impressed as I used to be, but this film kind of underwhelmed me.
The movie opens with a sort of chase scene that isn’t very fast but is shot beautifully wide, showing the beautiful vistas of the French Riviera. Unfortunately for Hitchcock, we no longer live in the fifties when you couldn’t just look up pictures of whatever you want to see on the internet.
I also found the plot to be remarkably simple. I know I’ve seen more movies and TV than anyone who was alive when Hitchcock was making his films but the villain of the film is incredibly obvious in their first appearance on screen. A who dunnit is hardly interesting if you know who did it for the entire film.
The film has the feel of a lazy Sunday afternoon. The people victimized are rich vacationers in one of the most lavishly high society places on earth. The protagonist is a war hero their whose villa would be envied by even the wealthiest of most people’s friends. It is full of people who don’t have to work, lying on the beach, boating, gambling, eating, and drinking and the film has a pace that rivals the leisure of its setting.
Beauty Before Substance
It is sort of strange how my feelings about this film mirror its subject. It boast a cast that any man or woman should want to see, a setting that most people of its day could never hope to see except on film, and a macguffin of jewelry that even Lords and Ladies would envy. It just seems to me that there isn’t a whole lot going on under the surface of all that beauty.
I like to watch Grace Kelly as much as the next guy and Carey Grant is his normal charming, joking self but in the end, most of the movie is just the two of them having variations of the same conversation over and over again. “I think you are the thief.” “I’m not a thief. I’m trying to catch the thief.” “We’ll see.” “Yes, we will.”
If you want to be thrilled by Hitchcockian twists and turns or thrilled by the undercurrent of mystery in every conversation then look at some of Hitchcock’s other better regarded films but if you just want and easy breezy fall asleep on the couch on Sunday kind of a film starring beautiful people in a beautiful place, then, hey! You can do worse than watching these stars for a couple of hours.
Review Written By: