Jewel Robbery
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Jewel Robbery
1932. USA. Directed by William Dieterle. Screenplay by Erwin S. Gelsey. With William Powell, Kay Francis, Helen Vinson. Though unfortunately eclipsed by Ernst Lubitsch’s Trouble in Paradise, a true masterpiece made in the same year and also starring Kay Francis, Jewel Robbery is a wonderfully urbane and risqué pre-Code comedy about a suave jewel thief (Powell) who, having learned the refinements of his trade in Paris, flaunts them in Vienna by stealing an Austrian baroness’s 28-carat diamond—and her heart—right under the noses of her dullard husband and her most recent love conquest. The film is a delight from beginning (a sexily suggestive bubble-bath sequence) to end (an expertly concocted gag involving “reefer madness”). Preserved by The Library of Congress; courtesy Warner Bros. 68 min.