How to Steal a Million (1966) - film review

Charles Bonnet is one of France’s leading art forgers and makes a comfortable living by auctioning off his fake works of art, much to the chagrin of his daughter Nicole, who is certain that one day this scam will be uncovered.  The pride of Bonnet’s collection is a copy of a Cellini statuette, which was forged by his father and which he has generously loaned out to one of Paris’s most secure art galleries.   When Nicole learns that the statuette is to be subjected to a technical examination to establish its authenticity, she is thrown into a panic.  Out of desperation, she appeals to Simon Dermott, a young burglar who recently broke into her house, and persuades him to help her steal the Cellini replica before it is shown to be a fake.   Unfortunately for Nicole, Simon is not what he seems...

How to Steal a Million was the last of three films which Audrey Hepburn made with director William Wyler, after Roman Holiday (1953) and The Children’s Hour (1961) and is the last of Wyler’s comedies, made towards the very end of his illustrious career.  Although panned by the critics on its initial release, the film has matured well, like an old wine or good cheese, and today it rates as one of Hepburn’s most delightful comedies, a seductively smooth melange of romantic comedy and caper movie.  The pairing of Hepburn with Peter O’Toole was daring at the time (particularly as the latter had yet to prove himself as a comic performer) but proves to be inspired.  Not only do the two actors have a sizzling on-screen chemistry but they also have a similar talent for underplayed comedy, which pays dividends in their show-stopping scenes together.   The excellent supporting cast includes Hugh Griffith, hilarious as the goggle-eyed art forger, and Eli Wallach as an over-enthusiastic art collector.  Shot in France, the cast includes several notable French actors of the period, including Charles Boyer, Fernand Gravey, Marcel Dalio and Jacques Marin, the latter of whom almost steals the show as the hard pressed (and unbelievably stupid) museum chief guard.  

The film’s centrepiece is of course the heist sequence, which is every bit as ingenious and intricately plotted as that of Jules Dassin’s Rififi (1955), only much, much funnier.  Particularly memorable is the sequence in which O’Toole frees himself when he manages to get himself trapped in a tiny cupboard with Miss Hepburn (something that stretches credulity to its limit - who would want to escape in that predicament?).   Whilst it may have been scrupulously innocent on paper, O’Toole and Hepburn bring a sultry eroticism to this scene that surpasses anything seen in the entire series of Emmanuelle films.  After this, the theft of the statue is pretty well an anti-climax, albeit a despicably funny one.  How to Steal a Million may not be the most sophisticated comedy but what it lacks in depth and intellectual rigour it more than makes up for in good old-fashioned charm and ebullient sixties-style comedy.  The "Papa" - "Nicole" exchanges in this film are what inspired that seemingly interminable run of Renault Clio TV ads of the 1990s, proving that imitation is not only the sincerest form of flattery, but also a very effective way to boost your profit margin.

© Alex Sullivan 2011

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