How to Steal a Million

Somehow Audrey Hepburn made fluffy romantic caper movies look

like high art. Take this adorable trifle directed by William Wyler

with Audrey looking glorious in her trademark Givenchy clothing.

Audrey could have phone in a performance, but she's totally

enchanting as always, making us overlook the seams in the script.

She's beautifully supported by Peter O'Toole, who never looked

handsomer or more Cary Grant-ish in his life as Simon, the art

expert who gets talked into stealing Audrey's father's statue of the

Cellini Venus back from the museum when it is learned the statue

has to be authenticated for insurance purposes.

Hugh Griffith, as Audrey's father, is a delightful rogue of an art

forger and Charles Boyer and Eli Wallach just add to the fun. The

actual theft of the statue is quite ingenious, if a little too drawn out.

Still, here's two hours of pure enchantment. That Ferrari still looks

good nearly forty years later, and if Audrey was walking down Fifth

Avenue, dressed in Givenchy's stunning creations today, she'd

cause a riot. Check out that lace cocktail dress with the matching

lace mask at the bar of the Ritz in Paris! It doesn't get any chicer

than this.

HOW TO STEAL A MILLION is a romantic crime drama film which, through an illusion of fiction, merges art and fraud. A clumsy fraud, mixed with a pleasant romance, can quickly enter in our hearts.

Charles Bonnet is well-known as an art collector, but actually he copies famous works of art. His daughter Nicole disapproves his "work" and is also afraid that he may get caught. His replica of a famed Cellini sculpture is inadvertently displayed in an art museum, and he begins to worry that he'll lose his reputation once the experts evaluate the statuette. Nicole decides to steal sculpture from the museum with the help of a mysterious burglar. However, her assistant is actually a well-known private detective who investigates frauds of her father...

A simple story with lot flaws is enriched with a very thrilling twist. The film is full of fictional tricks, through which it develops a delicious romance. Mr. Wyler has managed to create a frivolous version of double deception. He has, through a healthy dose of humor, emphasized Mrs. Hepburn style. A scene with a key is probably one of the most memorable. I think that a key has a double meaning in this case. This is a key to the heart and the truth.

Audrey Hepburn as Nicole Bonnet is, as always, a magic woman, this time in the role of a romantic rich girl and morally sensitive daughter at the same time. Peter O'Toole as Simon Dermott is a calm seducer, between an eccentric detective and inexperienced burglar. All for love. There's good chemistry between the two of them.

Hugh Griffith as Charles Bonnet is funny an art counterfeiter. Eli Wallach as Davis Leland is crazed collector, who effectively shows the characteristics of a sexual perversion.

Every art is a kind of deception!? Each theft is a form of art!? However, it is very difficult to mislead or steal one's heart.

In her third and final film with William Wyler, Audrey Hepburn did a most stylish caper comedy in How To Steal A Million. Despite the title being a complete misnomer because it's not about currency, francs, pounds, or dollars, the film is a delightful romp from start to finish.

Things are about to come crashing down around the family business of art forgery that Hugh Griffith and daughter Audrey have been carrying on. A statue of Venus that Cellini supposedly did, but is a forgery that Griffith's father did some years ago is about to undergo some routine tests that were not available years ago. They will certainly disclose that the statue is a fake and while Griffith's business is forging paintings instead of sculpture the authorities might start looking him over as well.

In fact when Hepburn catches gentleman cat burglar Peter O'Toole trying to steal a Van Gogh, she actually lets him go lest the Van Gogh be investigated. Later on she looks him up when she hits upon a plan to steal the 'Cellini' statue from the museum and might have need of O'Toole's skills in such matters.

The caper part of How To Steal A Million is the most fun and I won't say a word about it except that O'Toole hits on a really good idea involving the use of a toy boomerang. The whole caper nearly boomerangs as well as Hepburn and O'Toole have to spend some considerable time in a museum broom closet where they get better acquainted.

That part of the film also calls for Hepburn to get rid of the Givenchy gowns she was known for and wear the simple dress of a museum cleaning lady. Audrey still looks good in that.

Hepburn and O'Toole have some really nice chemistry, a pity they didn't do more films together. Hugh Griffith is a favorite character actor of mine, he has the wildest and most expressive eyes of any player in history. Griffith can do more with one upturned brow than Olivier can with a page of dialog. Audrey and Hugh both appeared in William Wyler films before and received Oscars for their performances, Audrey in Roman Holiday and Hugh in Ben-Hur. Audrey also did The Children's Hour with William Wyler as well.

And looming over all is the city of light, Paris which should have received some billing as well. Then again, that city never gives a bad performance on film.

Leave aside for the moment the two leads, Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, both at the very pinnacle of their star power and attractiveness. Leave aside, too, the brilliant support of two comedy masters, Eli Wallach and Hugh Griffith. And the sheen of William Wyler's direction, honed to perfection over a long, award-winning career. And the sparkling dialogue of old-pro scenarist Harry Kurnitz. And the beautiful location photography in that most beautiful of cities, Paris. And John Williams' sprightly score, and the rich production design, and the exquisite costumes, and every other perfectly-executed facet of this gleaming gem of a film. And concentrate on one single moment: in the museum, in the cupboard under the stairs, when Audrey Hepburn's character realizes that Peter O'Toole is going through everything he's going through, including breaking the law even though he's a policeman, simply because he's fallen in love with her. The expression on Hepburn's face is one of those truly sublime moments that make movies what they can be: bigger than life, more real, more joyous, more true. And for that alone we can be grateful that this movie is available for us and our posterity to enjoy.

If you are searching for a movie with wit, charm and delightful comedy in it, you've found it. "How to Steal a Million" is perhaps one of the finest Audrey Hepburn's films around. It's the story of a reclusive though slightly devious painter and forger (Hugh Griffith) Charles Bonnet who aside from his practice of recreating masterpieces and selling them to eccentric private collectors decides to donate a priceless but fake sculpture from his private collection to the La Fayette museum to be viewed by the general public. Not wanting to lose it to theft without compensation, the museum insures it for $1,000.000 dollars. However the insurance company wants it appraised to see if it's genuine and calls in an expert who will use modern techniques to ascertain it's authenticity. If it's discovered to be a fake, the painter, his reputation and his family will be ruined. Thus his beautiful daughter Nicole (Audrey Hepburn) must hire master bugler Simon Dermott, (Peter O'Toole) to steal it from the heavily guarded museum. At the same time, she is being pursued by Davis Leland (Eli Wallach) an American millionaire who wants to marry her. What neither Nicole, nor her father suspect is that Mr. Dermott is more than a shy bugler, he too is interested in the painter's secret hobby and his daughter. Excellent film for the family. ****