THE HAPPY THIEVES

A valuable painting belonging to Duchess Blanca (Alida Valli) is stolen at night from her castle in Spain by one of her houseguests, Jimmy Bourne (Rex Harrison), who replaces the original work with a duplicate. The debonair gentleman thief then passes the painting to his partner in crime, Eve Lewis (Rita Hayworth). However, the artwork is subsequently stolen from them by a man acting on behalf of Dr. Victor Muñoz (Grégoire Aslan), the cousin of the duchess.

Eve wants to go straight, but Victor blackmails her and Jim, demanding that they steal a renowned painting (The Second of May 1808) by Francisco de Goya from the Prado Museum in Madrid. An exact copy of the painting is created by artist Jean Marie Calbert (Joseph Wiseman), and a switch is planned to take place during the farewell bullfight of a famous matador, Cayetano (Virgílio Teixeira), whom the duchess intends to wed.

During the bullfight, Victor secretly shoots Cayetano in order to create a diversion that will assist the art theft. News of the matador's death spreads quickly across the city and distracts the guards at the Prado Museum, allowing Jim and Jean to begin switching the two large paintings. Jean suddenly leaves the room before they are finished, but Eve arrives in time to help Jim complete the switch before the guards return.

Later, Jean turns up and goes with Jim to the house of Victor, where they find him dead. They are then framed for this murder by the duchess, who had killed Victor to avenge the death of Cayetano. Using the stolen Goya painting as a bargaining chip, Jim negotiates with the authorities, and he secures freedom for Jean and a reduced prison sentence for himself. Eve vows to wait for him.

After successfully switching the Goya painting during a bullfight, Jim and his partner are framed for murder but use the stolen artwork to negotiate their freedom and reduced sentence. Eve promises to wait for Jim while he serves time.

The film’s conclusion wraps its caper with poetic justice: the protagonists escape a murder charge by leveraging their ill-gotten gains, signaling that wit and negotiation can outdo brute force in the criminal underworld. Eve’s vow to wait for Jim injects a bittersweet note, suggesting that even thieves can long for redemption and loyalty, while the world of high society remains as duplicitous as the art itself.