Charles Bonnet, the latest in a long line of master art forgers, loans one of his best works, a faux Cellini Venus, to a Paris museum despite his daughter Nicole's objections. Later, Nicole surprises a tuxedo-clad burglar in her father's workshop. She can't call the police because her father's hobby might be discovered, so she ends up driving the man--Simon Dermott--back to his hotel. Dermott is actually an inspector who is gathering evidence against Bonnet, but his attraction to Nicole complicates the assignment. Nicole learns that the museum plans to conduct a test on the Venus for insurance purposes, which she knows will expose the statue as a fake. To save her father from jail, she asks Simon to steal it, unaware of his true identity. Simon, intrigued by the challenge and now smitten with Miss Bonnet, agrees to the proposal.

William Wyler first considered making this film as a follow up to Roman Holiday (1953); as in that film, Gregory Peck would have played the male lead opposite Audrey Hepburn. At that time he had a darker mood in mind and approached Stanley Kubrick, who had recently made The Killing (1956), to contribute.

[Evaluating Nicole's cleaning-woman costume]


Simon Dermott:
Yes, that's fine. That does it.


Nicole Bonnet:
Does what?


Simon Dermott:
Well, for one thing, it gives Givenchy a night off.

Continuity: When the Cellini Venus is on display at the museum, its pedestal is on two tiers from the main floor, and roped off. In the scene where the guards discover it's missing, there are no tiers and the pedestal is flat to the floor. In later scenes, the tiers and ropes re-appear.