The Thief is a piercing Hitchcockesque thriller about a Communist spy who kills an FBI agent and is haunted by his guilty conscience. The most unique suspense story of the sound era, without a single word spoken! Brilliant production with beautiful photography in New York, Washington, D.C., and other East Coast locations. A product of the Cold War era when Communists were infiltrating all phases of American life. Academy Award-winner Ray Milland stars in this moody film noir masterpiece.
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January 2, 2011
#1
Unspeakably Brilliant,
“The Thief,” a moody and atmospheric noir masterpiece, is one of the most thoroughly engrossing espionage movies I have ever seen. The plot is intense and thrilling, the black and white cinematography visually stunning, the acting superb. The story revolves around a nuclear physicist (Ray Milland) who is also a spy. Torn by guilt and doubt and sinking deeper and deeper into dispair as FBI agents close in on him, he is forced into making a terrifying choice. All without a single word of dialogue.
The movie succeeds mainly because of the brilliant acting ability of Ray Milland. His performance, which owes much of its flavour to his Oscar winning role in “The Lost Weekend,” is quite probably his best ever. Dialogue would have destroyed this movie because its atmosphere thrives on the solitude and loneliness of spies and their world.
I have read many reviews that mention that “The Thief” leaves unclear the political convictions of the protagonist as well as the name of the country for which he actually works. Why the emphasis on this I do not understand since the movie intentionally leaves so many things unclear (i.e.: Ray Milland is the only character whose name we learn). I feel that this works decidedly to the movies’ advantage. Isn’t that the very nature of espionage?
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|January 2, 2011
#2
The next voice you hear…,
I may be the first person in fifty years who didn’t know the gimmick when I sat down to watch THE THIEF. At least I didn’t for the first eight minutes or so. Then I checked the back of the dvd jacket and saw that THE THIEF contained no dialogue. That explained things. Relaxed, I sat back and found myself enjoying it more and more.
It begins very slowly. Nuclear physicist Ray Milland is selling secrets to a foreign power. The movie spends a good chunk of time showing us what he’s doing, who he’s doing it with, and how it’s done. A picture may indeed be worth a thousand words, but a line or two of dialogue really helps to move a plot along. Without words, but with ambient sounds, a modern acting technique (circa 1952), a vital, Oscar-nominated score by Herschel Burke Gilbert and an artful acting job by Milland the point is made. Milland is by turns frightened, apprehensive, anxious. And things are going to get worse.
There are limitations to a movie with no dialogue, or title cards, or even the ever-helpful note. It’s not until the movie is nearly an hour old that we finally get to take a peek over a Fed’s shoulder to read a teletyped message. Of course, by then we’re pros at reading the silent action and the typed message isn’t even that helpful. We’d figured it out two scenes ago. Worse, for the movie-goer, is the introduction of the Rita Gam character (`The Girl’ in the credits.) A tenant in a low-rent apartment building Milland spends some time in, Gam gets to arch her eyebrows fetchingly a time or two, and do great justice to her surname in a toenail painting scene, but her scenes with Milland simply don’t work without dialogue.
No dialogue may taketh away, but it also giveth. THE THIEF develops a definite feeling of isolation and alienation through its silence. Director Russell Rouse makes great use of New York locations – the public library, the upper reaches of the Empire State Building being among the notables – and unique camera angles – a ceiling-eye-view of Milland pacing in a cramped room, a vertigo inducing camera shot from above characters on a observation deck in the Empire State Building.
I liked THE THIEF very much. The Girl scenes and the ending may leave a bit to be desired, but only a bit. Overall, I found the movie fascinating and very enjoyable.
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|January 2, 2011
#3
Excellent Movie,
Ray Milland proves again what an excellent and diverse actor he was in THE THIEF, one of the most interesting and unique movies it has been my pleasure to watch. The fact that there was no dialog seemed to dissapear as I became absorbed in the story. I think it was excellent.
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