TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

johndunbar-580-920543 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 !

TheLittleSongbird While no classic, The Thief was quite an interesting little film. Although the story is on the hokey side with a plot line that is quite familiar in a way, and I think The Thief could have been shorter to make Allan Field's character's motivation clearer perhaps, the film does have its fair share of tense and suspenseful moments and has a clever little twist as well.What makes The Thief so interesting is that instead of dialogue, The Thief relies on its narration, sound effects, creation of ambiance and intelligence of the audience to convey its point. All of this is done in an intelligent way, with the narration well-written and clear and the sound effects well-judged with none of them feeling out of place to spoil the mood.The Thief is very well made. Its use of camera work and editing is quite innovative in the use of angles, while the lighting and scenery/sets are quite striking. The music is outstanding and appropriately moody, conveying the titular character's state of mind wonderfully and in a somewhat unnerving way, while Russell Rouse directs very well and makes interesting use of the film's gimmick, which on the whole I think does work. The acting is very good, even without dialogue the facial expressions, gestures and eye contact of Ray Milland in the lead and the likes of Martin Gabel, Harry Bronson and Rita Gam speak volumes.In conclusion, while not entirely succeeding at what it set out to do, The Thief is an altogether interesting little movie. 8/10 Bethany Cox

moviegoingcat Possibly because it was made in 1952 during the height of the McCarthy period, certain aspects of the plot seem to go unmentioned in the descriptions of the film that you find in Film Noir books. It is not just that the protagonist has become unwilling to go on spying. It is apparent from indications of his aversion to women that he is homosexual and is being blackmailed because of this. The lack of dialogue helps to keep this plot in line with the mentality of the 1950's. He was certainly not doing it for money or because of his political beliefs. It is a brilliant film in every way. I think that it has gone unappreciated to some extent because it has been classified as an anti-communist propaganda film. This is particularly ironic since the FBI agent pursuing him later in the film does a very stupid thing. (Not the kind of thing J.Edgar Hoover would have liked to see in a film.) (Comment by June of JoeJune)

skallisjr This film came out before Mr. Hulot's Holiday, but it employs the same concept: the protagonist never utters a word. But whereas "Hulot" was a comedy, this one's rather noirish.MAJOR Spoiler follows: The ending of the film is a little fantastic. Suddenly, the protagonist, who's on the run, gets nostalgic about New York City. Seeing as his crimes, given the era, were capital offenses, I don't see any advantage in his action.Also, there was a cheat: when he was walking through Grand Central terminal, the PA system was broadcasting an unintelligible announcement. Deliberately unintelligible, I suppose, so that "not a word is spoken"; that is unnecessary.Not bad, but not classic.