This was a fascinating film, very much of its time (ie the Rosenbergs and other atom spies), and cleverly done, being wordless. Ray Milland is an eminent nuclear scientist working in Washington, where his laboratory consists of a few retorts and a fractionating column more suited to distilling bootleg liquor. From time to time he gets requests for information, photographs documents with a Minox camera (what else), and passes to film to his contact, usually in the Library of Congress. We see the film being passed from contact to contact, before one boards a plane for Lisbon, Madrid, Paris and Cairo(!) Slowly the strain takes its toll, especially when a colleague is arrested for his spying activities. The contact is killed in a road accident with a roll of incriminating film and the FBI are soon on the case. Milland is sent up to New York where he is told to lie low while a false passport is provided. In his tenement apartment, the chequered wallpaper soon becomes the bars of a prison. He cannot even succumb to the obvious and proffered charms of his neighbour, the very attractive Rita Gam. A meeting is arranged at the top of the Empire State Building, but the FBI are on the case. Interestingly the roof of the Empire State looked exactly the same as when I was there a few years ago, down to the security fencing and the binoculars. The contact agent gets killed in one accident, and Milland only escapes by causing the death of the FBI agent. Dressed as a seaman he goes down to the docks and is about to board a ship to escape. However, he has contrasted the bright lights and gaiety of New York with the grim awfulness of a tramp steamer. He turns round at the foot of the gang plank and heads back to the city. This was of course before the Rosenbergs were electrocuted. The way the tension was built up and the stress put on Milland were very well portrayed. However, the ease with which he was able to steal secrets was rather alarming.

How different this film is to modern day mush!Ray Milland conveys everything you need to know about each scene with a facial expression or a slight nuance – we never see what the secret notes say but we don't need to. We also don't hear what the FBI agents say to each other as they work their strategy of tracking him – again we don't need to.The suspense is created by the smallest of mistakes – the tiny camera left on the desk, the film nearly found in the library. Also the woman in the flat – we would think she is a prostitute at first but in a later scene she is just a teaser – or was she an enemy agent placed in the building to watch him? The whole character is left to the viewer to decide.The photography is top notch – part of the atmosphere is here created, the film is worth watching for this alone.This film is for an intelligent audience who still have the capacity to work things out for themselves. I give it 9/10 only because the Empire building scenes were a little predictable – still a terrific film.

If you can get through the first 15 minutes or so of this film, you're in for a real treat. Once the film gets going, its quite enjoyable, with scenes shot in Washington DC, Times Square, and most notably, the Empire State Building back when it was the tallest skyscraper in the world. The scenes on the 88th floor are beautifully shot, an then we get to travel higher to the 102nd floor and beyond. Anyone who loves New York will love this stuff. As a film, the gimmick of no dialogue works fairly well, though there are some scenes where it just doesn't seem natural that nobody would say anything (Milland's encounter with Gam at the flophouse screams for dialogue). But Milland carries it off for the most part and makes "The Thief" well worth a look.

Why haven't I heard of this movie before? Not a single word spoken, yet every detail of the mental torture that Ray Milland endures as a seemingly unwilling Soviet spy is conveyed by his features and demeanor. Film review books call it tame, pretentious, uninspired. I suspect those reviewers (this means you, Lenny Maltin) have never actually watched "The Thief."