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      The Happy Thieves

      Released Dec 20, 1961 1h 28m Comedy Drama List
      Reviews 22% 50+ Ratings Audience Score An art thief (Rex Harrison), his lover (Rita Hayworth) and a forger (Joseph Wiseman) plot to steal a Goya painting from the Prado museum in Madrid. Read More Read Less Watch on Prime Video Stream Now

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      Audience Reviews

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      Frances H Weren't so happy, really, because everything kept going wrong for them. I remembered a few scenes from seeing this as a kid on TV on Pittsburgh's morning movie in the summer. Not Harrison or Hayworth's best. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/04/20 Full Review Audience Member The Happy Thief 1961 Staring Rex Harrison & Rita Haworth This is a film that focuses heavily on the dialog. You really have to listen to this film more than anything to understand what is happening. The passing of the film could be a little faster. I do like how the shadows are used in this film and how shadows are incorporated into this film. I liked how before the intro credits they show a night scene of the credits, move the camera to a water reflection durning the opening credits then after the credits move up to the Castile in a day time scene. I like the visual look of this film with shadows and contrast in lighting of a scene. This is a film where I can not see this theft happening today unless you were to incorporate the technological theft elements to the story. Honestly I could not see this film happening in reality because the paintings looked like they were all being painted so quickly. I feel like the whistle music did not match what was really happening in the film nor was the title of the film necessarily appropriate to what was actually occurring in the film. They did not seem like happy thieves at all but seemed like they were paranoid thieves that at any moment they would be caught. The music was too happy and repetitive so it did not convey enough tension in the film. This film would have done better with more visuals, less dialog to help move the passé faster rather than draw out scenes in dialog. I was not necessarily pleased by the ending to this film because it did not have a closure I was satisfied with. I don't think this film spent enough time on everyone's motivations as well as this film could have been handled. It was an okay film. I liked the musical score but I did not feel like it matched the location or theme of art thieves. It also seemed cheesy seeing art thieves steeling a painting that was so large. It seemed like it was unrealistic for art thieves to go after making such a large counterfeit painting. In the end too big of a hassle because it requires a lot of time, money, planning, effort and trouble where the time and money could be better spent. I liked the canceled cane rifle in the film. I could not believe that in a public phone booth the characters would go through the tubes looking for the stolen painting rather than just wait to get to a less public and better space to spread out the artwork. This film has a lot of telephone booth's in the film as well as whispering scenes. The film starts out with whispering thoughts. I wish that the film had taken a different way on presenting the thoughts in Rex Harrison's head rather than present it as whispers to help make the passé seem faster rather than make it difficult to hear the whispers in the film. I also got surprised many times how the thieves would discuss their plains to steal art in a public area sometimes near security guards. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/28/18 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Happy Thieves

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis An art thief (Rex Harrison), his lover (Rita Hayworth) and a forger (Joseph Wiseman) plot to steal a Goya painting from the Prado museum in Madrid.
      Director
      George Marshall
      Screenwriter
      John Gay
      Production Co
      Hillworth Productions A.G.
      Genre
      Comedy, Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Dec 20, 1961, Limited
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Apr 12, 2017
      Runtime
      1h 28m
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