Jawnts: This 1950s film is a fun escape

T

o Catch a Thief

is a great summer movie. It's not a bombastic, overproduced CGI smashfest (see: Marvel movies, even the good ones). It's not a self-serious action romp, with stomach-twisting camera work (see: the

Bourne

movies and all the third-rate thrillers that cribbed off that series). And it isn't a bland romantic comedy, with stiff jokes and downright cadaverous chemistry.

And it's not that they don't make them like To Catch a Thief anymore; it's just that they don't have Alfred Hitchcock to bulk up slender little plots like this one.

This movie is basically made up of Cary Grant romping around the French Riviera, being courted by women almost half his age - principally Grace Kelly. (Although, for my money, French actress Brigitte Auber, playing the rascally foil, is the one to watch.)

To Catch a Thief is total fluff, weightless as boardwalk cotton candy. In an old DVD commentary, Hollywood legend Peter Bogdanovich calls it a "vacation movie." That's exactly right and, to sweeten the pot, it's available on Netflix.

It's certainly not a story that should be plumbed for political complexity. To Catch a Thief pits obscenely wealthy American adventurers against a band of working-class heroes, formerly of the French Resistance. In most movies, the aggrieved waiters-cum-freedom fighters would have our sympathies. But when Grant is the star, there are few who can or should be opposed to him.

Grant's bantering chemistry with Kelly is great fun and it is impossible to root against him, especially when the stakes are so low. The guilt of 1950s gender politics is even somewhat alleviated. The famously demur late-stage Grant lobbied his directors against casting him next to youthful ingénues. This movie, like 1963's Charade opposite Audrey Hepburn, shows he was willing to make the concession as long as he was the one pursued.

To Catch a Thief is a wonderfully relaxing film and one that I'm glad to end "Jawnts" on. (I'm starting a new job.) Thank you all for reading these last few years. I've hugely enjoyed keeping abreast of Philadelphia arts, film, and theater. Our city's culture scene is greatly underappreciated and I'm glad I could bring whatever small spotlight to it that this column afforded me and, hopefully, you.

To Catch a Thief is playing at the Garden Theater in Princeton at 7 p.m. Thursday. General tickets are $8.

jake.blumgart5@gmail.com @jblumgart