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      The Light Touch

      1951 1 hr. 50 min. Mystery & Thriller Comedy List
      Reviews 43% Fewer than 50 Ratings Audience Score Burglar Sam Conride (Stewart Granger) usually reports to black market kingpin Felix Guignol (George Sanders), but when the crook nabs a priceless painting, he decides to stash the loot and fence it himself. To appease the skeptical Felix, Sam enlists brilliant artist Anna Vasarri (Pier Angeli) to forge a version of the stolen painting. Eventually both Felix and the authorities discover that Sam still has the original painting, so he and Anna are forced to flee for their lives. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member Writer/director Richard Brooks is someone whom I've come to appreciate more and more over recent years. I think I initially became familiar with him over his western like "The Professionals" and "Bite the Bullet," which are both good and solid entertainment, but are not as smart or hard hitting as some of his best films like "Blackboard Jungle," "In Cold Blood," or "Brute Force." This film, "The Light Touch," was his second feature film as a director and is quite good, even if it's isn't as great as some of his classics. The story follows art thief Stewart Granger as a young innocent artist, Pier Angeli, falls in love with him, thinking he's a legitimate art dealer. Granger tried to keep Angeli out of his dirty dealings with crime figure George Sanders, but that's not how drama works. The film features a solid cast, that also includes Norman Lloyd and Mike Mazurki, and some nice on location photography, but the film is rather slow moving and Granger seems to give a rather lifeless performance. I was never all that familiar with Pier Angeli, but she is quite good in the film and reminds me of a young Ingrid Bergman. I think what this film needed was was a director like Jules Dassin to bring more of a clipped pace to this character driven crime story. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Okay caper film would have benefited from stronger leads but George Sanders's droll performance makes up for a great deal. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review dave j Thursday, December 23, 2010 (1951) Light Touch ADVENTURE/ THRILLER Another enjoyable Stewart Granger stars as a professional thief who manages to successfully steal an expensive painting from a vatican church. He then felt to be double crossed from the buyer who then attempts to manipulates a very young lady painter who could do duplicate original works! What I've just describe to you is only just the beginning with it's many twists and mishaps happen along the way with some ingenuity! Another thing I enjoyed about this movie as opposed to the others are that the story never lags or drags any emotional punch meaning that's all business- the movie just gets to the point! The only drawback of course like most black and white movies made during this era was the imposed 'do the right thing' type of ending! This movie is more of a 85% in terms of it's entertainment value but 80% is still a very good rating! 3 out of 4 Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Light Touch

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      Critics Reviews

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      A.H. Weiler New York Times The Light Touch, in short, may not be art but it is entertaining. Rated: 3/5 Apr 8, 2008 Full Review TV Guide Though the locales are nicely photographed, this is a pretty dull picture. Rated: 2/4 Apr 8, 2008 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews A clunky art caper story. Rated: C- Feb 24, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Burglar Sam Conride (Stewart Granger) usually reports to black market kingpin Felix Guignol (George Sanders), but when the crook nabs a priceless painting, he decides to stash the loot and fence it himself. To appease the skeptical Felix, Sam enlists brilliant artist Anna Vasarri (Pier Angeli) to forge a version of the stolen painting. Eventually both Felix and the authorities discover that Sam still has the original painting, so he and Anna are forced to flee for their lives.
      Director
      Richard Brooks
      Screenwriter
      Richard Brooks, Jed Harris, Tom Reed
      Production Co
      Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
      Genre
      Mystery & Thriller, Comedy
      Original Language
      English