Le retour d'Arsène Lupin

The first MGM Arsene Lupin sound movie featured John and Lionel Barrymore as mighty antagonists, master thief and super cop. The RETURNS movie builds up the contest of similar seeming antagonists, a successful G-Man, forced to resign because of his self-promoting publicity, and a legendary thief who seems to have come back from the dead. The beginning of the film builds up the character of Warren William as a sleuth on the trail of a thief calling himself "Arsene Lupin." In short order, William is in France where he meets an aristocratic lady (the beautiful Virginia Bruce) with four young Boston terriers, which we never see again, and Melvyn Douglas as her friend. Douglas apparently has a country estate with various farm animals running around. Then begins the apparent duel -- William versus Douglas, one man suspecting that the other is the real thief who escaped death and the other thinking that he has to evade suspicion for committing a crime and maintaining his life style. The two dance around each other with their witty exchanges, while paying attention to the lovely Bruce. Douglas has to contend with the unexpected appearance of two buddies from his past (Clive and Pendleton) who think that their old life style has returned. Meanwhile, a formidable French police officer (George Zucco) is on the trail. Then begins a succession of events, all centering around a $250,000 emerald necklace, amid a flurry of misdirections, red herrings, shadowy figures, safe cracking, and a deadly shooting, until the satisfying conclusion is reached. A nice touch: the "confetti" thrown at the end. William is as suave as he is in his role as Perry Mason, Douglas is as debonair as he is in his films with Garbo, Bruce is more gorgeous than she is in BORN TO DANCE, even Zucco is more believable than he is in his horror films of the 40's. Also, watch for noted screen chewer Vladimir Sokoloff in his much younger years. One of the better crime films of the '30's with witty repartee, handsome actors, and a clever plot.

It's a good thing that Arsene Lupin is dead, because there are enough attempts to steal John Halliday's fabulous emerald while he's trying to sell it. Fortunately (for the insurance company) there are only a few days left on his policy against theft. So they send recently resigned super-G-Man Warren William to France, to guard the emerald and to pine for Halliday's niece, Virginia Bruce. She's also being pursued by Melvyn Douglas, who's actually Arsene Lupin.

This would become a running gag in Maurice Leblanc's series of stories about the master criminal. He would fall off a cliff or something at the end of a novel. Then the next would open with him being a decorated hero of the French Foreign Legion, or Prefect of Police in Paris, and no one would ever recognize him, because he is such a master of disguise. George Fitmaurice directs it as a comedy of manners. He was one of those directors who never quite fell off the A list in the early sound era, mostly because of working for Sam Goldwyn. He did have a falling-off of quality with the enforcement of the Production Code, but at MGM he was buoyed by a staff of writers who knew how to work together under producer John Considine. He died in 1940 at the age of 55.

The Barrymore brothers scored well as Arsene Lupin and the dogged detective trailing him back in the early days of sound, so MGM decided the old thief could use a second go around.

It turns out he didn't die as per the original film, but is now living in quiet retirement, at least until some enterprising thief decided to do a job and pin it on him. Now it's up to Lupin to clear himself.

The plot of Arsene Lupin Returns is remarkably similar to Alfred Hitchcock's classic To Catch A Thief, right down to the French locale for most of the story. Of course this B film was shot on the MGM back lot.

For a B film, Arsene Lupin Returns boasts a remarkable cast of classic players. Melvyn Douglas, Warren William, John Halliday, Monty Woolley, George Zucco and Tully Marshall all had years of stage training before going into film. In fact when about five of these guys were in the same scene, I have to say I haven't so much perfect diction this side of a Ronald Colman film.

Given however it is a B film with a limited cast too much talk will give away the culprit. Looking over the list I can say any one of these guys by past roles could have been the thief. I'll say this though, leading lady Virginia Bruce didn't do it.

No color cinematography, no good French Riviera locations, but Arsene Lupin Returns has a nice story done by a group of the classiest players ever to be assembled on one movie.

And for a B film besides.

'Arsene Lupin Returns' has been inevitably compared to its 1932 predeccessor 'Arsene Lupin', which very memorably starred John and Lionel Barrymore. Being somebody that immensely enjoyed that film for many reasons (especially the performances of the Barrymore brothers), expectations were high for 'Arsene Lupin Returns'. Especially with such a talented cast that sounded a dream on paper, a great idea for a story that is my kind of film and with the legendary Franz Waxman as composer.

On the most part, 'Arsene Lupin Returns' delivers and is a worthy follow up. Maybe not quite as good, the atmosphere is not as authentic (not as much of the French flavour here) and it is hard to shake off those great feelings had watching the Barrymore brothers previously. 'Arsene Lupin Returns' is every bit as well made, performed and witty though, with much charm too, and others will like that it goes at a faster pace and is more refined than 'Arsene Lupin'. Both are enjoyable films and go well together.

There really is not much to dislike. Did think that John Halliday was on the dull side as a rather thanklessly written character that doesn't really add very much.

Maybe the romantic rivalry could have been developed a little more than it was.

However the cast do really well and the actors are fine in their own way, clearly looking as if they were having fun while not being too broad and having the intensity when needed. The always never less than reliable and often great Melvyn Douglas is charming and debonair in the lead role, while Virginia Bruce is alluring glamour personified. Warren William provides a lot of entertaining moments and is suave and witty. The verbal sparring sparkles. EE Clive, returning Tully Marshall and especially Nat Pendleton also looked as though they were enjoying themselves and George Zucco is suitably formidable. 'Arsene Lupin Returns' is slickly directed and goes at a lively pace, not being bogged down by un-neccessities like the 1932 film sometimes was.

Production values are handsome and Franz Waxman's music score also makes an impact, interesting for it being an early work of his and being not as distinctively swelling in emotion as one usually hears with Waxman. Yet the lush orchestration and mix of playfulness and suspense in the scoring makes for a very enjoyable listen. The script sparkles like bubbles on top of a glass of champagne, especially in the verbal sparring, and the story is diverting and clever with some neat clues (even if full attention is needed all the time as some of the plot does get complicated). The ending is surprising and satisfies if not as thrilling as in 'Arsene Lupin'.

In conclusion, worthy and very enjoyable. 8/10

The Arsene Lupin films have been around since well before the advent of talking pictures and a wide variety of actors have played the role of this gentleman thief (sort of like the Lone Wolf or Boston Blackie before they went straight). Because of the massive turnover of actors and generally lackluster films, despite the series continuing on and off for decades, it never caught on with the public.

In this installment, it picks up three years after the last film. While the actors were different, the plot was a logical follow-up to the earlier film and once again, while the film was set in France, no one spoke with even the vaguest of French accents. This time, a fat-headed but brilliant detective (Warren William) is out to catch the thief but must contend with some decent plot twists to untangle the mystery.

This is a pretty good film of about the same quality as the earlier ARSENE LUPIN starring John and Lionel Barrymore. While this film did not have quite the same star power as this other film, Melvin Douglas and Warren William are both entertaining to watch. Sadly, however, despite a decent supporting performance by Virginia Bruce, there were also some disappointing performances as well. George Zucco (a perennial heavy from B-films) and Monty Wooley (a likable sort of rogue in most films) are pretty much wasted, as they are given very little to do. It's a shame, because with better writing, these two could have been major assets in the movie. Instead, Douglas and William are pretty much the whole show.