To Catch a Thief was "strong on sight and performance values" though it had "some plot weaknesses and is not as smooth in the unfolding as one might expect from an upper 'A' presentation." "Harrison's Reports" wrote, "Alfred Hitchcock has not endowed the action with as much suspense as one might expect in a picture produced and directed by him; nevertheless, its story of a one-time jewel robber who sets out to establish his innocence by catching a thief who was using his technique is tight and swiftly-paced, and constantly offers dramatic and comical developments." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" called it
To Catch a Thief (novel) in a movie set in the 1950s. In 2011, the novel was dramatized as a "Saturday Play", which was broadcast on 8 January on BBC Radio 4. To Catch a Thief (novel) To Catch a Thief is a 1952 thriller novel by David F. Dodge. The scene is the French Riviera, and the time is 1951. In August 1951, French police come to arrest American John Robie at his villa in Vence near the Côte d'Azur. He escapes, leaping over the garden wall. In the late 1930s, Robie was a daring, supremely athletic burglar, known as "Le Chat" ("the cat"),