Adele St. Maur Movies

A jewel thief is at large on the Riviera, and all evidence points to retired cat burglar Cary Grant. Escaping the law, Grant heads to the Cote D'Azur, where he is greeted with hostility by his old partners in crime. All of them had been pardoned due to their courageous activities in the wartime Resistance, and all are in danger of arrest thanks to this new crime wave. But Grant pleads innocence, and vows to find out who's been copying his distinctive style. With the reluctant aid of detective John Williams, Grant launches his investigation by keeping tabs on the wealthiest vacationers on the Riviera. One such person is heavily bejeweled Jessie Royce Landis, who is as brash and outspoken as her daughter Grace Kelly is quiet and demure. But "still waters run deep," as they say, and soon Kelly is amorously pursuing the far-from-resistant Grant. Part of Kelly's attraction to Grant is the possibility that he is the thief; the prospect of danger really turns this gal on. Being Cary Grant, of course, he can't possibly be guilty, which is proven in due time. But by film's end, it's obvious that Kelly has fallen hard for Grant, crook or no crook. Occasionally written off as a lesser Alfred Hitchcock film (did we really need that third-act fashion show?), To Catch a Thief is actually as enjoyable and engaging now as it was 40 years ago. Though the Riviera location photography is pleasing, our favorite scene takes place in a Paramount Studios mockup of a luxury hotel suite, where Grant and Kelly make love while a fireworks display orgasmically erupts outside their window. And who could forget the scene where Jessie Royce Landis disdainfully stubs out a cigarette in an expensive plate of eggs? Adapted by frequent Hitchcock collaborator John Michael Hayes from a novel by David Dodge To Catch a Thief won an Academy Award for cinematographer Robert Burks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bing Crosby heads this heart-tugging post war drama of a grieving widower who is duped into forming an unbreakable bond with the French orphan he believes is his long-lost son. Crosby lost his beloved when the Nazis killed her for participating in the French resistance. Much later, Crosby is told that his son, who bears striking resemblance to his wife, is in a Paris orphanage. Despite the head nun's insistence that 8-year-old Fourcade is his boy, Crosby is skeptical and so tries to test the lad. When the boy fails the test, Crosby confronts the duplicitous sister who 'fesses up to her scheme and determination to see that her charges get good homes and happy lives. Though Crosby has come to love little Fourcade, he cannot get over his grief until he receives wise counsel from a very good friend. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this slick melodrama, a sort of film-noir for women, a nightclub singer has an affair with an unhappily married San Francisco doctor. Though the physician desperately wants to leave his wife, he lacks the courage to ask for a divorce. In retaliation, the singer accepts an offer to move East and start up a new club in New York. Lost without the singer, the doctor is without option until his partner suddenly dies. With a burst of inspiration, he fakes his own death and flees to New York. Later, he is horrified to learn that his death has been officially declared a homicide, and so he goes into hiding in the singer's apartment. To cope with his fear and the increasing success of his lover, the physician begins drinking heavily. This only makes him paranoid and more depressed and he begins to suspect his lover is having an affair. Upon confronting the "lover," a fight ensues, the doctor wins, and thinking he killed his rival, he takes off -- only to end up in a horrible traffic accident that leaves his face unrecognizable. Though plastic surgery gives him a new identity, it is at that time that he is arrested and sent back to California to stand trial for his own murder. Rather than burden his family with the shock that he is still alive, the doctor insists that his lover keep mum, and he stoically goes to trial where he is sentenced to Death Row. Beautifully photographed by James Wong Howe in typically expressionistic style, the film focuses on the desperation and entrapment of the characters and expresses a true bleak, fatalistic film-noir sensibility which makes this film unique in the genre. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Groucho Marx received co-writer credit (along with his old friend Norman Krasna) for King and the Chorus Girl, though very little Marxian wit is in evidence. What remains is a fun but forgettable comedy about a European monarch (Fernand Gravet) who woos and wins a down-to-earth American chorine (Joan Blondell) who works at the Folies Bergere. Edward Everett Horton and Jane Wyman (fifth-billed) provide comic relief as the respective best friends and severest critics of the leading players. The film had a topical edge in that it was released the year after Britain's King Edward renounced his throne for American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson. Significantly, King and the Chorus Girl was released in England as Romance is Sacred, effectively downplaying the touchy "royal" angle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The last of Universal's three Boris Karloff-Bela Lugosi teamings of the mid-1930s, The Invisible Ray is dominated by Karloff as Dr. Janos Rukh, the inventor of a laser-like heat ray. Despite the scoffing of his colleagues, Rukh intends to use the ray for the benefit of mankind, but first he requires a new element called "Radium X" to perfect his invention. Before long, he has embarked upon an expedition to Africa in search of a radium source, accompanied by his beautiful young wife Diane (Frances Drake), handsome young scientist Ronald Drake (Frank Lawton) and financiers Sir Francis and Lady Arabella Stevens (Walter Kingsford, Beulah Bondi). His system poisoned by increased exposure to radium, Rukh begins acting strangely, virtually forcing Diane into Ronald's arms. Apparently killed during the expedition, Rukh is actually alive, dementedly determined to use his "invisible" radium ray to do away with all his enemies. Soon he is able to kill with the mere touch of his hand, and this is how he disposes of his severest critic (and greatest supporter), humanitarian doctor Benet (Bela Lugosi). Rukh later tries to kill Diane as well but is unable to go through with it. The mad doctor meets his Waterloo when he is confronted by his own avenging-angel mother (Violet Kemble-Cooper). Not as lively as previous Karloff-Lugosi efforts, The Invisible Ray is nonetheless an effective melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Francis Lederer stars as the prince of a mythical European kingdom. To mingle with the "common folk" while on a visit to New York, he takes a job as a hotel doorman. In this capacity he meets Frances Dee, a small-town secretary who has likewise come to Manhattan to put a little variety in her life. Gay Deception is an enjoyable trifle put expertly through its paces by William Wyler, a director just on the verge of bigger assignments. It was one of the last Fox Studios films to be released before Fox's merger with Twentieth Century Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy, an American art student goes abroad to study and gets a reputation when she marries a wealthy shipping magnate. She eventually returns to her hometown. While en route, a train wreck occurs and she proves herself a heroine by helping out. She then finds herself falling in love with a Kansas school teacher. Romantic mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide