The Thief (1952)

Fantastic!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Since we are now in Cold War II, this movie deserves to be revisited. Ten minutes into the film with no dialog, and then twenty, and the music just keeps your stomach turning to the very end with no spoken word. I'll give it a star and a half just for this bold silent experimentation in the talkies era. This film predates European art films that would emerge a decade later and emulates the great Russian experimental films of the silent era with its splendid photography and acting. I'd give Ray Milland another Oscar for this. By the end of the movie he does look ten years older.

A really sweet dark film noir to curl up with on You Tube. This remarkable film attempts and accomplishes the impossible; to make an engrossing and convincing 'silent film'. Whereas the old silent were just boring and overacted, this one is really a sound film without dialogue. The sound comes from the music which is artfully fit to every scene to illustrate the mood and tensions involved. This is matched with Ray Milland's terrific acting which carries the entire weight of the dramatic plot. In case nobody noticed this man's acting before this is to film to watch. Every nuance of human emotion is conveyed through his acting and the plot moves to its astonishing conclusion on the strength of that acting. A real 'lost gem' of a film !

This movie really shows how powerful and captivating can the image be. I don't understand why this movie is seldom mentioned for the big public. Nobody has doubts that Casablanca or Citizen Kane or so many others are great movies, but this movie can also be enjoyed by many people and means something very innovative at the moment it was shot. I got astonished when, after 20 minutes I hadn't heard any voice; I didn't know in advance that the movie had no dialogues. However, the story was intriguing enough and the situations had so much suspense that I watched it without missing dialogues. Of course, the spies were communists and it's a produce of the cold war time, but this fact does not impact on the quality of the script. Ray Milland was an actor so remarkable that his acting makes the film believable. He shows the anguish and fear of a man who is doing something very grave (treason) and is being shadowed. He was so good actor that at the end of the movie, when he's about to go aboard, one can read his mind and guess his final decision. After all, he is not a crook or a murderer, but rather a man of science and not violent, so, the reasons that lead him to the final decision have to do with his conscience (an innocent man is being accused of something that he did and another man was killed by him) The cinematography is superb, I enjoyed specially the way it shows the streets and buildings of the cities. The script is subtle and full of brilliant details. The music is very good and well sync. Really a masterwork. Maybe the long silent scenes that Jean-Pierre Melville or Jules Dassin had in their movies could've been inspired by this film? Very recommended.

How different this film is to modern day mush!Ray Milland conveys everything you need to know about each scene with a facial expression or a slight nuance – we never see what the secret notes say but we don't need to. We also don't hear what the FBI agents say to each other as they work their strategy of tracking him – again we don't need to.The suspense is created by the smallest of mistakes – the tiny camera left on the desk, the film nearly found in the library. Also the woman in the flat – we would think she is a prostitute at first but in a later scene she is just a teaser – or was she an enemy agent placed in the building to watch him? The whole character is left to the viewer to decide.The photography is top notch – part of the atmosphere is here created, the film is worth watching for this alone.This film is for an intelligent audience who still have the capacity to work things out for themselves. I give it 9/10 only because the Empire building scenes were a little predictable – still a terrific film.