As a comedy "caper" film, "How to Steal a Million" is just about perfect. The premise sets it up: An art forger (Hugh Griffin) allows the prize of his "collection" -- a "Cellini" sculpture (by the forger's father with his mother as the model) -- to be exhibited in a major Paris museum. His daughter (Audrey Hepburn), who resembles the grandmother who modeled the Cellini nude, engages an apparent cat burglar (Peter O'Toole) whom she caught in their house trying to "steal" a newly painted fake Van Gogh, to steal the "Cellini" before it can be examined by experts for insurance purposes and exposed as a fake. The burglar, actually a detective specializing in exposing forged paintings, agrees to undertake the theft, having fallen in love with Ms. Hepburn's character. (That part is easy to understand because Ms. Hepburn is at her peak in this film, gorgeous and sparkling.) The theft is executed ingeniously, using a boomerang to set off the alarm system that protects the sculpture, bringing the museum guards and police from all over Paris to the Museum and disturbing important people who live close to the Museum. The alarm goes off twice, resulting in chaotic but fruitless searches of the Museum, and -- having heard twice from the important personages, the chief of the guards eventually shuts down the alarm, at which point O'Toole's character (also at his handsome peak) purloins the statue, which is then smuggled out of the building by Ms. Hepburn in the bucket she is using as a disguised scrub woman. In between, Hepburn and O'Toole are hidden in a tiny closet, rubbing up against one another, and Hepburn realizes that O'Toole is stealing the statue only because he has fallen in love with her. There's an important subplot: A wealthy and unscrupulous American collector (Eli Wallach) who already owns several of the forged paintings covets the Cellini and romances Ms. Hepburn in order to get close to her father, eventually forcing an engagement ring on her, which she accepts only because she is in a hurry to get to a crucial meeting with O'Toole at the Paris Ritz. Eventually, O'Toole gives the statue to Wallach just as he is leaving France, attaching the engagement ring to a ribbon around the statue's neck. Charles Boyer also appears briefly in the film as an art dealer with whom Wallach had previously worked. This plot, with some changes in detail, might have served as a serious caper film along the lines of "Topkapi" but it is a pure comedy from beginning to end. And Hepburn, O'Toole and Griffin play their roles as if born for this purpose. Wallach and Boyer are good and two of the guards are splendid. William Wyler's direction is impeccable. If you admired Ms. Hepburn and O'Toole at the peak of their physical attractiveness and their acting prowess, this film is a must-see.
Review of How to Steal a Million
