gridoon2018 Liberal drug use, infidelity out in the open, and the life of a career jewel robber romanticized and celebrated: yes, we're firmly in pre-code territory here folks. The film is frank, sophisticated and deliciously amoral. Suave William Powell and chic-but-naughty Kay Francis are perfectly cast (in one of their many screen pairings). My favorite line: "Tonight is not the night to give you a name, but to forget mine". *** out of 4.

jbacks3 Warner Brothers was bleeding some serious red ink in 1932. The public's once-insatiable talkie curiosity had worn off and the Depression had tightened it's stranglehold on America, causing ticket prices to drop below 1930-31 levels. Against this reality, the studio had actively pursued marginal Broadway plays it rightly thought could be had on the cheap and improved on; Ladislas Fordor's comedy "Ekszerrablás a Váci-uccában" (or "Jewel Robbery"), adapted for the stage by Bertram Bloch. The play had blown through the Booth Theatre after just 54 performances in front of half-filled seats. Purchased for a reported $10,000, the property came in at cost low enough to justify giving it an A-effort. Newly hired screenwriter Erwin S. Gelsey rewrote the play and recent German émigré William Dieterle was enlisted to direct. At this point Warner's was spending about $300,000 on it's A-efforts and was sandbagging it's huge losses (they would continue into 1936) from profits squirreled away from the salad days of 1928-31. Jewel Robbery did nothing to help it's 1932 bottom line. The film flopped miserably (critics cited Kay Francis' interpretation of a morally objectionable philandering Viennese trophy wife). The fact was, there wasn't much Depression era audiences could relate to. Warner's injection of sex and marijuana would doom any hope of eking out re-release profits after the 1934 Production Code kicked in and the property would remain virtually unseen until the inception of TCM. To contemporary audiences, Jewel Robbery is a pre-code hoot. To Jack L. Warner, it was an ulcer.

GManfred "Jewel Robbery" is a movie made by grown-ups, written for grown-ups and starring grown-ups. This one almost qualifies as a costumer as everyone is in 'evening dress', this being 1932. It aired on TCM the other morning and I can't tell you what a refreshing break it was from what passes for modern comedy.Do you like William Powell? Here he was never more debonair and urbane, not even in his Philo Vance pictures or as Nick Charles. Are you familiar with Kay Francis? She was so - what's the word - 'feminine' will do. Yes, that's perfect. And together they were perfect in this Pre-Code comedy which keeps you waiting for the next exchange of delicious dialogue.He is a gentleman thief and she is a bored wife looking for excitement, adventure, etc. The story is clever enough but the script is the thing here. Truly, they don't make films like this anymore. Adam Sandler, you have no clue, son. This is sophisticated stuff.'Jewel Robbery' is only the 2nd picture I have given a 9 to, and it was richly deserved.

tedg William Powell is responsible for a huge element of our loves, the smoothness that has comic irony behind it. He invented it. There are a few of his movies that are essential viewing, but those are after the government thugs decided what movies should be like in "moral" terms.So you only have a brief window between the time that talkies got going seriously and the code pummeled them into different channels than the world naturally wanted them to go.This is the best Powell from that window. Pot. Overt sex of the most promiscuous and opportunistic kind. An incredible garment. A very literal wink at the camera as the rich man's kept woman goes off on her jaunt for satisfaction and sexual adventure. The notion of theft as morally acceptable. Police as buffoons, albeit European police.Powell invented something important, but it relied on the notion of conspiracy. The most cinematic of conspiratorial devices are sexual cheats. The appearance of a speech defect in the sexy actress only endears and amplifies the effect.So without this small window, this period of rapid evolution, we wouldn't have the riches we have today.A fun movie. An important one, too.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.