BLU-RAY REVIEW

To Catch A Thief

Featured In Issue 165, March 2012

Picture3.5
SoundNR
WSR Score3
Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
(Studio/Distributor):
Paramount Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
14637
(MPAA Rating):
Not Rated
(Rating Reason):
(Retail Price):
$15.00
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
106
(Color Type):
Color
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
Not Indicated
(Theatrical Year):
1955
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
03/06/12
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Alfred Hitchcock
(Screenplay/Written By):
(Story):
(Music):
(Director Of Photography):
(Production Designer):
(Visual Effects):
(Costume Designer):
(Editor):
(Supervising Sound Editors):
(Re-Recording Mixers):
(Executive Producers):
(Co-Producers):
(Producers):
(Academy Awards):
(Principal Photography):
(Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
(Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
(Disc Soundtrack):
Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Dolby TrueHD 1.0, Dolby Digital 1.0
(Theatrical Sound):
(Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
(DTS Bit Rate):
(Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
(Additional Languages):
(French Language):
(Spanish Language):
(Chinese Language):
(Subtitles):
(Cantonese Language):
(Mandarin Language):
(Japanese Language):
(Italian Language):
(German Language):
(Portuguese Language):

When a string of jewel thefts occur in the French Riviera, reformed thief John Robie (Grant) is the main suspect in Alfred Hitchock's To Catch A Thief. Determined to clear his name, John heads to the land of the rich and lovely with plans To Catch A Thief. Determined to bait the real robber, he becomes involved with Frances (Kelly), a rich and spoiled heiress whose mother flaunts her fabulous jewels everywhere she goes. Frances believes that John is, in fact, the real thief and is intrigued with him, soon falling head-over-heels for the handsome stranger. As she works hard to save him from getting caught, he works just as hard to draw out the real thief and prove his innocence once and for all. Based on the novel by David Dodge. (Tricia Spears)

Special features include commentary by Dr. Drew Casper, Hitchcock Film Historian; seven featurettes: A Night With The Hitchcocks (HD 23:22), Unacceptable Under The Code: Censorship In Hollywood (HD 11:49), Writing And Casting (HD 09:03), The Making Of (HD 16:64), Behind The Gates: Cary Grant And Grace Kelly (HD 06:12), An Appreciation (HD 07:32), and Edith Head The Paramount Years (HD 13:44); an interactive travelogue; galleries; the theatrical trailer; and an UltraViolet digital copy.

First reviewed in Issue 68 as an anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 DVD, the picture exhibited a dated appearance but one that had been restored. Hues were rich and fully saturated, though, fleshtones could appear a bit brownish and blacks were
undefined. The color scheme tends to shift slightly within a scene. Offensive edge enhancement was noticed around images at times. The source element was revealing of artifacts and film grain. The Blu-ray Disc™ release looks significantly better, with good clarity and a saturated color palette, though, blacks are still crushed. Fleshtones are inconsistent and at times unnatural. Resolution is excellent, especially during close-ups. While slight grain is noticeable, the overall impression is clean. Still this is a dated visual experience that is a good marker for just how advanced filmmaking has come since 1955. (Gary Reber)

As with the previous DVD's Dolby® Digital 2.0 soundtrack, the Dolby TrueHD 2.0 soundtrack is big fat mono. Despite the inherently dated fidelity and preponderance of distortion, especially in the music recording, the audio has been nicely restored with low background noise. The audio can have a "tinny" sonic character, though, and dialogue sounds "produced" and not well integrated. (Gary Reber)