Jewel Robbery

This is a wonderful companion to TROUBLE IN PARADISE, also featuring the immortal and neglected Kay Francis; it features the great William Powell in one of his most unrivaled moments on screen. Another great one from Dieterle who also directed the American classic DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER, which was recently released on DVD. Be nice to see this other classic of his become available. I viewed this on TCM and was entranced by the sparkling dialog; I wondered again why this effect seems impossible to achieve nowadays - was it that so many of these early actors had honed their talents on the stage? I would like to see this released on a disc with HIGH PRESSURE, another early Powell.

This is one of the raciest films of the 1930's. A married woman is having affairs all over the place, and then is willingly seduced by a gallant jewel thief. The movie just drips with illicit sex - you've got to see this one to believe it. Damn the Production Code for stopping films like this! Wavising Kay Fwancis has never been better!

William Powell is a smooth jewel thief who captivates Kay Francis in "Jewel Robbery," a 1932 film made before the dreaded code kicked in.

Set in Vienna, Francis plays a baroness who, like her friends, has married a dull man for money and takes lovers. While her husband is buying her a 28-carat diamond and she's arguing with her boyfriend, William Powell and his team enter to rob the store. It's love at first sight.

This is a slight but very amusing film, interesting for the racy story line, the outfits, and Kay Francis herself. A very unusual-looking woman, Francis' heyday was in the '30s, and everything about her screamed '30s, of course - her hair, her fashions, and the kind of films she made. She's somewhat frozen in time there.

Powell is his usual dashing, delightful self, and the two work very well together. The scene at Powell's place is particularly interesting, as she demands not to be asked to do anything, but to be forced, at which point, he picks her up and throws her onto his huge bed. "But there are so many pleasant in between steps," she objects.

A delightful movie, not terribly long, but fascinating given the era in film in which it was made.

A bored Baroness discovers love & excitement when she becomes caught up in a thrilling JEWEL ROBBERY.

Scintillating, light as air and slightly naughty, this pre-Code charmer will delight discriminating viewers looking for a sophisticated comedy, a little trifle with which to while away an idle hour. Thievery, marijuana and infidelity--while very serious subjects--are here satirized almost to the point of insignificance. The whole purpose of this forgotten film--which compares nicely with the best of Lubitsch--is to provide the audience with a good time, and in that it succeeds quite admirably.

Beautiful Kay Francis is enchanting, her cool demeanor barely concealing the mischievous passions just below her elegant surface. Very bored with her wealthy but unattractive husband (Henry Kolker), she yearns for a more exciting life. Gentlemanly thief William Powell provides that opportunity. Suave & debonair, he instantly makes the viewer forgive his regrettable vocation. As a twosome, the stars bring just the right frisson of pleasure to their scenes to please all but the most jaded viewer.

The supporting cast further adds to the film's fine distillation. Hardie Albright as Francis' admirer & Helen Vinson as her friend both portray willing partakers of Old Vienna's hedonistic lifestyle. Spencer Charters is very humorous as a completely incompetent night watchman. Sour Clarence Wilson plays a police official, while Alan Mowbray shines in his few minutes as a no-nonsense detective.

Movie mavens will recognize rotund Robert Greig as a chauffeur, tobacco-eating George Davis as a police secretary & the wonderful Ruth Donnelly as Miss Francis' maid--all uncredited.

This film has to be on the short list of films-that-epitomize-pre-code-Hollywood. Adultery, drugs, crime, flaunting of morals and convention, free-spirit thumbing their nose, all done with humour and glamour. One can understand why the church was upset! Problem was that there were many films that played on these themes so it must have seemed that Hollywood was really out to corrupt the world. This one has the full package but with a wink and smoothness that today's garbage film-makers would never have the patience to pull-off. Too bad the code swung the pendulum way too far in the other direction. A must-see for Francis and Powell fans.