the characters in the film La Main au Collet are in a convertible sports car stopped on a hillside

When the French Riviera caught Hollywood

Suspense, did you say suspense?It was in 1955 that Alfred Hitchcock directed “To Catch a Thief”, a romantic-detective comedy bringing together the greatest Hollywood star of the time, Cary Grant, and the sublime Grace Kelly, whom Hitchcock had already directed. in “Dial M for Murder” and “Rear Window”. For the master of suspense, this film is a great first: all the outdoor scenes will be shot in a natural setting, on the French Riviera.

A Hitchcock version of the Côte d'Azur

"To Catch a Thief" is therefore an opportunity for the viewer to embark on a Technicolor journey in the French Riviera of the time, in all that it had of rare and fascinating. Because it is indeed the French Riviera that steals the show from Cary Grant and Grace Kelly for most of the film. From the Carlton to the Negresco, from the Croisette in Nice and its flower market to Eze, Monaco and the winding roads of the Grande Corniche, some of the most beautiful panoramas in the world are offered to the viewer. The film establishes itself as the best ambassador of France and its glamor for a population across the Atlantic in search of new summer horizons. He also received the Oscar for best photography in 1956.

Finally, how not to evoke the destiny as romantic as tragic of Grace Kelly. During the picnic scene with Cary Grant, the outlines of his future kingdom emerge below the Grande Corniche. This same road where she will lose her life almost thirty years later.

But the myth remains. And for all eternity, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly will stay behind the wheel of their blue Sunbeam Alpine convertible, charmers and accomplices under the sun of the Riviera.

© Sébastien Didier pour Valmont Riviera

All the places seen in the movie


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