This issue is part of a month-long Alfred Hitchcock marathon I’m doing as a fundraiser for The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham! I will be watching the Master of Suspense’s final 30 films (and writing a poem about each one over on Facebook), so I will be writing about four of those films here. If we’re not Facebook friends, you can donate to The Women’s Fund here.
I feel like you’ve truly made your mark as an artist when your name becomes an adjective. Money and fame and even power are all really nice, but that’s the greatest possible legacy, isn’t it?
Of course, there’s “Hitchcockian,” which is pertinent to today’s issue. The oldest example I can think of is “Shakespearean.”* The newest example I can think of—that feels ubiquitous and not niche or fringe—is “Lynchian.” (Can you imagine being David Lynch and seeing your name used to describe new films multiple times a year? What a rush that must be.)
And then there’s Charles Dickens. We still throw “Dickensian” around a lot, I think. Except I’ve been using this term incorrectly all along! What a fool I’ve been. But I’m brave enough to admit it here, to you, reader. (Newsletters are free therapy.)
You see, “Dickensian” is used to describe stories that deal with characters trapped in abject poverty, or perhaps an entire community seen as such. And of course, this is accurate, because every Dickens story I can think of is like this. (I read Great Expectations in high school, and I believe it was Hard Times that I read in college, and of course I’ve seen several renditions of A Christmas Carol, but that’s as far as my Dickens knowledge goes.)
Anyway, this is quite a tangent I’m on to begin this piece about a Hitchcock film, but let me get to the point: I have always incorrectly associated “Dickensian” as a quality pertaining to the naming of characters, specifically the choice to give characters very obvious and descriptive names. “Mr. Scrooge,” for example, is not the sort of name you give a kind-hearted, happy-go-lucky character. (Here’s a pretty good list of other examples.)
By that logic, I find To Catch A Thief to be downright Dickensian, even though it’s not Dickensian at all. (All of the main characters in this film are quite well off, in fact.)
First of all, there’s Grace Kelly. She plays a character named Frances, or Francie, as she’s often referred to. Do you know what country To Catch A Thief is set in? It is set in France. How curious.
To a lesser extent, I think the insurance guy’s name is also rather descriptive: H. H. Hughson. Not only is this a purposefully professional sort of name, the “h” consonant sound (or even “Hugh” as a name) reminds me of blowing out a small fire, which is kind of what insurance people do, right?** (Is this one a stretch? Perhaps. But this is my newsletter.)
The biggest example, which is twofold I think (maybe threefold?), is our main character, played by our old friend Cary Grant (whom I have written about twice already for this newsletter). Cary Grant plays a burglar named John Robie, which is funny to me, because the root of his name is “Rob,” and “Robie” even sounds like the French conjugation of “to rob,” and you could even argue that there’s an intentional anonymity to “John” as a first name.***
But the kicker for me is his nickname: “The Cat.” Yes, reader, he is a cat burglar, and therefore he is referred to as “The Cat.” He must’ve been France’s first cat burglar or something, since they gave him the most obvious nickname imaginable. I wish he’d been given a much better moniker, but it’s almost worth it just to watch Grace Kelly say “the cat” with her whole face.
So you see, while To Catch A Thief is not “Dickensian” at all, even though it made me think of Dickens. I take solace in knowing that David Dodge, the author of the 1952 novel, is the one to blame here rather than Hitchcock. I wonder if he had such great expectations for a film adaptation when he was writing this one!
*My editor, John, says that “Christian” is the oldest such term, but I think Jesus was more of a skilled tradesman than an artist.
**My editor, John, asked me if I’d had a stroke after he read this sentence.
***My editor, John, did not appreciate this last point here.
To Catch A Thief is now streaming on Amazon Prime, Paramount+, and Kanopy, and it’s available to rent elsewhere.
lol at what you thought Dickensian meant!