Une femme diabolique

Gertrude Michael is quite good as this quirky comedy hits the ground running. She's the eponymous jewel thief returning to the United States after a lengthy visit to the UK. Finally, "Insp. Stone" (Arthur Byron) hopes he will have his chance to apprehend his elusive antagonist, so he tries to stitch her up, unwittingly, with fellow thief "Max" (Paul Cavanagh) and hopefully catch them both red handed with a priceless set of pearls. "Lang" is way to savvy to fall for this obvious ruse, smells a rat, and is soon doing most of the policeman's sleuthing for him in order to detect the real criminal mastermind in their midst whilst simultaneously not being outdone by her new, competitive, would-be beau. The detection elements of the plot here are really neither here nor there. What makes this a bit more notable is the provocative fashion in which Michael plays her role. "Sophie Lang" is a clever, wily and sexual creature and plays to her strengths - and to men's weaknesses - well as the story develops. As a comedy it falls rather flat, but as a movie that delivers a more substantial role for an actress in the early 1930s, it does a little better.

Gertrude Michael is a glamorous jewel thief, pursued by inspector Arthur Byron, who knows everything about her..... except who she is. She's been laying low in Europe for a couple of years, but she comes back to the US to rob a jewelry store and be kicked out by the cops for being a nuisance. Matters are complicated by Paul Cavanaugh, who is also a jewel thief, but he's masquerading as an English aristocrat.

Jewel thieves were a favorite of the movies, probably because they stole from the rich, and then only things that were heavily insured, so no one lost any money, except for insurance companies, and no one gives a hang about them. The movie is enlivened by Allison Skipworth as Miss Michael's eccentric aunt and accomplice, and Leon Erroll as an inept detective.

It was a good year for Miss Michael, who had good roles in MURDER AT THE VANITIES and Demille's CLEOPATRA. This was originally intended as a vehicle for Carole Lombard, but she passed on it. Miss Michael appeared in a couple of sequels to this movie in 1937, but despite a screen career that endured for another 30 years, never hit the top rank. She died in 1964 at age 53.

Thanks to TCM for running this mini classic, so popular, there had to be a sequel. Much owed to "tough cookie" Gertrude Michael who latched onto the title role and ran away with it.

Originally offered to Carole Lombard, who refused, a big mistake. Known to be very selective with her roles, Lombard complained about her recent casting in the cult chiller, SUPERNATURAL, leading to this offbeat film and similar concerns. Michael wins out.

She plays a beautiful, smart as a whip jewel thief, returning to the US after a stay in Europe. Object -- more robberies. Stumped police inspector Arthur Byron has a plan to catch Sophie once and for all.

On the sly, he arranges to set her up with Max (dashing Paul Cavanagh), yes, another thief to box her in.

Will it all work when they hopelessly fall in love? A must see for the fine performance of Gertrude Michael, an actress of many talents, originally an accomplished pianist. Perfectly cast opposite comedian Alison Skipworth, playing her sly Aunt Nellie, a character which may have lead to a similar role (with Bette Davis) in SATAN MET A LADY, re-working of the MALTESE FALCON. Look for comedian Leon Errol (a gem) and Del Henderson, often cast in Laurel and Hardy comedies.

Written with a wink and a nod by Anthony "Tony" Veiller, who would go onto write WINTERSET, 7 KEYS TO BALDPLATE, later THE KILLERS (1946).

Remastered on dvd, single film or with sequels. Worth adding to your collection of classic oldies.

OK, so this was a cool movie. It was funny, exciting, and most of all, not sappy.

Sophie Lang was played by Gertrude Michael. This was the biggest role I've seen her in. She had bit parts in movies I've seen such as "Unashamed" (1932), "Night of Terror" (1933), "Ann Vickers" (1933), and "I'm No Angel" (1933). She had a fairly significant part in "Search for Beauty" (1934), "Murder at the Vanities" (1934), and "Murder on the Blackboard" (1934), but she wasn't the main character. "The Notorious Sophie Lang" was a real showcase for her.

Sophie was a master thief. She was so good that no one even knew what she looked like. The movie began with her robbing a jewelry store and slyly getting away. She had been dormant for five years, but she was back in business because she had an ego like most greats.

She'd heard that Maximillian Bernard (Paul Cavanagh), Europe's most acclaimed thief, was in town (New York) and she couldn't be outdone by him. It was a matter of professional pride that she get in contact with him and see which of the two was better.

Trying to catch Sophie was Police Inspector Stone (Arthur Byron). He had an idea of how to catch Sophie when he was apprised that the man claiming to be Nigel Crane was none other than Max Bernard (Cavanagh). Stone would use Max Bernard to catch Sophie Lang.

He intentionally kept hidden the fact he knew Nigel Crane was Max Bernard. Then he played to Bernard's ego by proclaiming that Sophie Lang was a much better and more accomplished thief. He hoped that Max would get to work to disprove such a theory and that he would seek out Sophie Lang. Meanwhile, Stone would have his man Stubbs (Leon Errol) tailing him to catch both thieves.

It was nothing but fun and a wee bit of romance from then on. As an added treat, Alison Skipworth was in the picture playing Aunt Nellie, Sophie Lang's aunt and right hand woman. I did enjoy this movie. I'd seen several other cat burglar movies from that era such as "Arsene Lupin," "Raffles," "Jewel Robbery" and a few others. It was cool to see a female cat burglar; and one who didn't fail because she fell in love.

Free on Odnoklassniki.

In her eighteenth film in only two years,Gertrude Michael, having recently signed a long term contract with Paramount Pictures, was handed an assignment turned down by Carole Lombard, that of a lady jewel thief. Blonde, intelligent,sophisticated and edgy, Michael suited the role to a tee. Her performance opened her career to leads and costarring roles through the rest of the 1930s. The Catholic Church condemned this film for it glamorization of an amoral criminal. The audiences loved her easy chemistry with leading man Paul Cavanaugh, the scene-stealing Alison Skipworth,and the comic antics of Leon Errol. The film generated a series of two additional films which due to the puritannically revised code forced Sophie Lang to evolve into a rehabilitated criminal fighting evil. Still they were all good fun as Sophie Lang constantly appeared in different disguises and led the cops and the crooks on a merry chase. Several years ago this film was show in a 1930s Bad Girl retrospect at San Francisco's Roxie Cinema.Also on that program were Tala Birell in "She's Dangerous" and Claire Trevor in "Big Town Girl".