William Dieterle (1932)

A very long sixty-eight minutes.  It’s interesting that a story about the Viennese upper crust – a bored baroness falls in love with a jewel thief (and vice versa) – was thought likely to be popular with American audiences in the depths of the Depression.  That doesn’t make the film worth seeing, though.  (I’m not sure how popular it actually was at the box office.)  You know what you’re in for from the start as a pompous scientist explains the brilliance of his new burglar alarm system to the staff of a high-end jeweller’s, the long-winded demonstration is interrupted by news that a theft has occurred elsewhere in the shop, and the scientist passes out in shock.  My basic problem with Jewel Robbery was probably my abiding resistance to stories about delightful law-breakers but the humour is heavy-handed and monotonous and there’s relentless accompanying music (by Bernhard Kaun) to match.  Things liven up when William Powell first appears as the impeccably mannered thief, but not for long.  Kay Francis is the baroness; the cast also includes Helen Vinson and Henry Kolker.  The screenplay by Erwin S Gelsey is adapted from a story by Ladislas Fodor.

23 May 2014