Blu-ray Review To Catch a Thief Blu-ray Review (2020) (1 Viewer)

[Neil Middlemiss]

To Catch a Thief has always been a treat! The expert thriller and playful mystery storytelling of one of cinema’s all-time giants with the iridescent beauty and strength of Grace Kelly bantering rhapsodically with the mature charms of the great Cary Grant is a combination impossible to resist. As number three in Paramount’s new Paramount Presents collection, this edition overall is a step back from the 2012 release, but still generally looks quite good with some caveats.



To Catch a Thief (1955)



Released: 05 Aug 1955
Rated: PG
Runtime: 106 min




Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Genre: Mystery, Romance, Thriller



Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams
Writer(s): John Michael Hayes (screenplay), David Dodge (based on the novel by)



Plot: A retired jewel thief sets out to prove his innocence after...

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[Harry-N]

Thanks Neil. I think I anticipated this kind of review based on other impressions from around the "net". That's why I went ahead and blind-bought the 2012 Blu so I can finally watch this film. Having only the awful 2002 DVD in my collection, I've never had the desire to try to sit through it to find out if I even LIKE the movie. But with a really reasonable price on the 2012 Blu, I went ahead. I'll probably be very happy with the original mono audio track. I really dislike gimmicky attempts at surround or even stereo from original mono tracks.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Neil,

Great review without the hyperbole that I've read from reviews from other sites as well as posters here. I never planned on getting this BD release as I'm very happy with the 2012 Blu-ray and I already own the HD digital on iTunes. Hopefully, Paramount/iTunes updates that digital to 4K. If "King Creole" can get such an upgrade, why not "To Catch a Thief". Anyhow, thanks for giving me a better understanding of this BD release. One more thing, shame on Paramount for not including the missing Bonus Material as well as original Mono audio track.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Thank you for the review, Neil. You certainly had an unenviable task reviewing what's arguably the most controversial Blu-ray of 2020! I appreciate you helping us all make an informed decision.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

Thanks Neil. I think I anticipated this kind of review based on other impressions from around the "net". That's why I went ahead and blind-bought the 2012 Blu so I can finally watch this film. Having only the awful 2002 DVD in my collection, I've never had the desire to try to sit through it to find out if I even LIKE the movie. But with a really reasonable price on the 2012 Blu, I went ahead. I'll probably be very happy with the original mono audio track. I really dislike gimmicky attempts at surround or even stereo from original mono tracks.

Congratulations, I think you made the sensible choice. The 2012 Blu has vibrant colors, fine detail, but a little too much sharpening IMHO to be perfect. Great movie, great transfer, nice extras. But you'll have to intentionally select the mono soundtrack, as I did, to avoid the stereo version, which I found a bit distracting. Cheers

 

[borisfw]

Thanks for the review. I think i'll stick with the 2012 edition i already own.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for the review Neil. This is certainly a controversial release. I‘ll be receiving this disc later this week, and I’m really interested in how it looks to my eye.

I like this movie so I’m good to add another version of this title to my collection.

 

[Robert Harris]

The original 35mm prints of this film were breathtaking. Some filtration was occasionally used, which will create differences not in overall resolution, but a certain velvety characteristic, which is lovely.

overall detail in the costume ball sequence is amazing.

The way to see VVLA films is in 4k, and TCaT, is a superb candidate.

As to the night sequences, and the green cast... they did lean more toward the cyan primary.

Nice review, although I’d have a tendency to give this production a 10.

A few factoids: Jesse Royce Landis would play Mr. Grant’s mother five years hence. She was 8 years older. Brigitte Auber just turned 95, and was working in film last year.

One thing that we learn about dye transfer printing from this film, is that egg yolks look wonderful in the process.

 

[Mikey1969]

Seeing the alchemy Paramount was able to accomplish with this, and what Warners did with North by Northwest some time ago, it's sad that Universal wasn't able to invest in cleaning up The Man Who Knew Too Much before bringing it to blu-ray. It's one of the more under-rated of his films, IMHO with some wonderful performances and memorable set-pieces.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

A 3.5. video rating on a 4K VistaVision film? That’s a definite pass.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Seeing the alchemy Paramount was able to accomplish with this, and what Warners did with North by Northwest some time ago, it's sad that Universal wasn't able to invest in cleaning up The Man Who Knew Too Much before bringing it to blu-ray. It's one of the more under-rated of his films, IMHO with some wonderful performances and memorable set-pieces.

To me this is the lesser of the 4 Hitchcock VV films. It just comes across as really downbeat, and Doris Day doesn't shine. My order of the 4 is:
North by Northwest (my all time favourite film)
To Catch A Thief
Vertigo
The Man Who Knew Too Much

Cary Grant worked well with Hitch, which made for better entertainment. Eternally pleased that James Stewart didn't get NNW.

 

[warnerbro]

The former 2012 blu ray is absolutely gorgeous. Paramount is a curious distributor. Not sure why they do the things they do. (a side note where Paramount got it right: The 4K of CHINATOWN is now on sale at Amazon streaming, and it looks amazing)

 

[rdimucci]

Amazon is also showing a 2017 Blu-ray release. How does that differ from the 2012 release? For the record, Amazon shows the 2012 release as being in the 2.35:1 ratio and coming from Warner Bros.

 

[Worth]

Amazon is also showing a 2017 Blu-ray release. How does that differ from the 2012 release? For the record, Amazon shows the 2012 release as being in the 2.35:1 ratio and coming from Warner Bros.

Warner distributed a number of Paramount titles for a while, so it was probably just a repackaging of the same disc. And it's not 2.35.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Amazon is also showing a 2017 Blu-ray release. How does that differ from the 2012 release? For the record, Amazon shows the 2012 release as being in the 2.35:1 ratio and coming from Warner Bros.

The 2012 Blu-ray was released by Paramount so it looks like a input error on Amazon. The 2017 re-release was definitely part of the distribution deal Paramount had with Warner. Both discs should be the same.

 

[Les Mangram]

To me this is the lesser of the 4 Hitchcock VV films. It just comes across as really downbeat, and Doris Day doesn't shine. My order of the 4 is:
North by Northwest (my all time favourite film)
To Catch A Thief
Vertigo
The Man Who Knew Too Much

Cary Grant worked well with Hitch, which made for better entertainment. Eternally pleased that James Stewart didn't get NNW.

There were five Hitchcock VistaVision films. You've overlooked The Trouble With Harry!

 

[Keith Cobby]

There were five Hitchcock VistaVision films. You've overlooked The Trouble With Harry!

You're right, i actually realised today that i had missed it off. However, in mitigation, it is a truly terrible film that doesn't deserve to be in the list! Looking through my shelves i noticed i had given it away.

 

[Robert Crawford]

You're right, i actually realised today that i had missed it off. However, in mitigation, it is a truly terrible film that doesn't deserve to be in the list! Looking through my shelves i noticed i had given it away.

I beg to differ, but subjectivity is what film appreciation is all about.

 

[Nelson Au]

I just posted my impression of the new 2020 disc on this thread, if interested, I wanted to give another point of view.

Pre-Order - Paramount Presents: To Catch A Thief (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder

Mine just arrived. Will check it out shortly. And the person who can't stop with the "dislike" button will be here in five, four, three, two... Said person has now done this on over twenty-three posts of mine, no matter WHAT they say. What a wonderful world. :)

www.hometheaterforum.com

 

[Osato]

I just posted my impression of the new 2020 disc on this thread, if interested, I wanted to give another point of view.

Pre-Order - Paramount Presents: To Catch A Thief (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder

Mine just arrived. Will check it out shortly. And the person who can't stop with the "dislike" button will be here in five, four, three, two... Said person has now done this on over twenty-three posts of mine, no matter WHAT they say. What a wonderful world. :)

www.hometheaterforum.com

thanks Nelson!

check out Robert Harris’ post on the redux too! He has some new information that is very interesting!!!!