A vintage poster for the classic To Catch a Thief. |
Dir. Alfred Hitchcock: writ. David Dodge (novel), John Michael Hayes; feat. Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams, Charles Vanel (NR)
The good movie lovers over at Texas Public Radio knew they wanted to give you a dose of the Hitch this summer, but they couldn't quite settle on which dose to deliver. They ran into, um, some hitches in finding good prints of some choices (classics as Spellbound, for instance), and eventually settled on this charmer. Thief is an atypical Hitchcock movie: Although the plot does involve jewel thieves and intrigue, it's not at all what you would call a thriller. Characters pretend to be people they aren't, but the subterfuge is hardly as extensive as in, say, North by Northwest. The real point of the film is a romance between two of the most glamorous people in movie history, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly - a slow-burning flirtation that is consummated in a darkened hotel room, where big French doors open onto a fireworks display that can hardly compete with what's going on inside. Someday, Paramount will surely find the time to give Thief the kind of big digital makeover they've given some of the studio's other gems, making those fireworks even sparklier but who wants to wait for that, when Grace Kelly and all her diamonds are right there for the taking? — John DeFore
To Catch a Thief screens Tuesday, July 8 as part of Texas Public Radio's "Cinema Tuesdays" series. 7:30pm at AMC Huebner Oaks, admission $10 members/$12 non-members, 614-8977 or tpr.org for reservations.
¡Ay, Qué Tiempos Señor Don Simón!
Dir. Julio Bracho; writ. Neftali Beltrán, Julio Bracho; feat. Joaquín Pardavé, Arturo de Córdova, Mapy Cortés, Anita Blanch, Miguel Montemayor (NR)
You can't keep the movie lovers down for long. Even as we announced the end of the Instituto de Mexico's June film series, we got word that the run was extended through July - that's wonderful news for fans of Mexican cinema, even if the screenings are projected on video instead of celluloid. This week's installment is billed as a romantic musical comedy: ¡Ay, Qué Tiempos Señor Don Simón!, the writing and directing debut of Julio Bracho, whose career stretched from this 1941 film through the late '70s. — John DeFore
¡Ay, Qué Tiempos Señor Don Simón! screens at the Instituto de Mexico, 600 Hemisfair Park, at 4pm on Sunday, July 6. Info: 227-0130