To Catch a Thief (1955)

Unusual Hitchcock thriller. 

A retired jewel thief (Cary Grant) living on the French Riviera has to track down a new “cat” burglar whose crimes are being wrongly attributed to him. Grace Kelly plays the young woman he romances along the way. 

It’s not as exciting as Hitchcock’s best films, despite the rooftop drama at the climax. There’s jarringly odd lighting, too, with super-bright studio shots and less-bright location shots often clashing when edited together in the same scenes. It seems unfair to criticise these technical limitations, but the juxtaposition is striking enough to jolt you out of the narrative again and again. 

Grant and Kelly have a certain easy charm, but for some reason the whole thing seems a little lacking.

North by Northwest (1959)

Enjoyable Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. 

An advertising executive is mistaken for a dangerous agent, and ends up being pursued across the USA by a ruthless team of criminals.

As usual, Hitchcock makes the most of shadows and unusual angles to enhance the drama. But those tricks are slightly undermined by the unusually artificial-looking brightness of some of the scenes. Also, the silly “comedy” moments with Cary Grant’s mother (played by Jessie Royce Landis, who’s clearly too young) fall flat and stand out as awkwardly jarring. Likewise, a drink-driving scene ends up being oddly comical and you’re left unsure quite how you are supposed to take it.

The iconic Mount Rushmore is an inspired choice of location for the place where the action plays out and the ending is genuinely thrilling.