MissSimonetta
Jewel Robbery (1932) has a reputation as one of the most pre-code of the pre-code period. The heroine is an adrenaline-junkie socialite whose hobbies include jewelry-hunting and adultery. The romantic lead is a gentleman thief who prefers to incapacitate his victims with marijuana cigarettes rather than at the end of a gun. When the two meet, what results is a smoldering, witty onscreen romance that ends with crime paying big.Some might accuse the film of being very slight. At 66 minutes, it just barely put in a character arc for the Kay Francis character. However, this is a fun movie, one that does not try to be anything but pure confectionery-- and when the confectionery is as tasty as Jewel Robbery, only a grouch would complain!
SimonJack
William Powell and Kay Francis made half a dozen movies together. Two of them were billed as comedies and they are their best. They were made and released within a few months of each other in 1932. The last one was more of a drama and love story, "One Way Passage." This film, "Jewel Robbery," is a caper comedy set in Vienna, Austria. It has a lot of dialog, mostly between the two leads. Powell plays the robber, whose name we never learn. Francis plays Baroness Teri, a wealthy and bored socialite who loves jewels, looks for excitement, and has had an adulterous affair with a diplomat she now wants to dump.Powell heads a large gang of jewel thieves who pull off a jewelry store heist in broad daylight. They've been doing this for some time and haven't been caught. The baroness and her friend, Marianne (played by Helen Vinson), lead lives centered around pleasure. Others in their wealthy circle are Teri's husband, Baron Franz (played by Henry Kolker), her lover Paul (played by Hardie Albright), and Marianne's husband, Count Andre (played by Andre Luguet). Alan Mowbray has a nice double role in the film as the robber's butler, Fritz, who also poses as a detective. And, Spencer Charters is very good as Johann Christian Lenz of the Vienna Protective Agency. The plot is simple, but far-fetched with a little melodrama at times that weakens it. This is mainly a two-person stage production of the Powell and Francis characters trying to seduce the other in subtle ways. It is done with verbal repartee and innuendo. There is humor and comedy here, obviously, and some satire of foreign police and the lifestyles of the wealthy. It also pans the character of a small segment of society as wastrels. Viewers in modern times should recall that this film was made in 1932. It was the heart of the Great Depression. Unemployment in the U.S. was 25 percent and it was over 30 percent in Austria. The depression was devastating on both the rich and the poor. So, here we have a film in which the place and people of the story seem oblivious to the world reality. But audiences who were going to see it were very much living in the reality of the time. Moviegoers in the 21st century, so far removed from the reality of the time and place, will see this film in a quite different light than the moviegoers of that time. Today, we may smile at the humor and waywardness of the baroness, and the comedy of the robbery. But in the 1930s -- even with the satire that more people would have seen, the public couldn't accept this escapist entertainment from the harsh reality of the day. And, the critics didn't think much of Francis' performance. The script doesn't try to hide the broader "messages" of the film. Consider this self-appraisal and confession by Baroness Teri with Paul. "I'm not a fine woman. In my own eyes, I'm shallow and weak." Paul, "But why?" Teri, "Because I go on living a shallow and weak life when, with a little courage, I could break away from it. I have all of the qualities to make quite a decent person, and what have I done with them? I fly about all day pursuing food, jewels, excitement. I don't love. I don't even suffer. I have nothing except boredom. In the morning, a cocktail. In the afternoon, a man. In the evening, very dull. That my dear minister of state is my picture of your Teri."Some reviewers think the cigarettes doping is marijuana. But, would a few puffs of "weed" lead men to the states we see here? And, what gives it a pleasant aroma? I think it was supposed to be cigarettes laced with opium. Expensive brands of perfumed cigarettes were common in Europe. I've smoked them in France and Germany. Laced with opium, one such smoke would likely put a man to sleep for several hours, as in this film. Opium and coke then were the big social drugs in Europe. They were even legal in England in the 19th century. This isn't nearly as good as most of the hilarious comedies and caper films that Powell made later. Incidentally – those came after the Hays code began to be enforced by the studios that established the code in the first place. But this is an adult film that most adults should enjoy. Viewers will enjoy it all the more who see the satire that viewers living in the hard times of the 1930s found it hard to enjoy. Here are a few of my favorite lines from the film – some acerbic, some satiric, some just funny. Baron Franz, "You use what weapons you can to get money – against a rich man, a revolver, against a poor one, his poverty. Isn't that right, Paul?" Paul, "Of course! We diplomats too are only effective when we have power … and use it."The robber, "You're so lovely, it's hard to be brutal with you." Teri, "You do strike a fresh note. Up to now, men have always been brutal because I am lovely."Lenz (of the Austrian Protective Service), "What would happen if they started locking cabinet members in vaults as a regular habit?" Baron, "The country would probably have some peace."Teri, "Even though he's a robber to us, he stormed that shop like a hero."The robber, "I'd have allowed a lot more time for this robbery if I'd known you'd be here."Teri, "You can't invite me to do anything. Whatever you do must be by force."The robber, "Even a robber has to look out for burglars."
davidjanuzbrown
When I read the reviews of "Jewel Robbery", I must be the only one who really did not like it, perhaps I missed something, I do not know, but cannot stand it. As a Powell fan (Although a bigger Loy fan), I would not expect to find anything by Powell on my all-time baddie list. However, there is not a redeeming element to it. Spoiler ahead: Seeing robberies committed by getting people high on pot, was stupid, as was the way Powell's character('The Robber') gets away and agrees to meet Baroness Teri (Kay Francis) later. I admit I am not a fan of Kay Francis, and I basically avoid her films, because the themes of most of them do not appeal to me. But one film she did "Raffles" with Ronald Colman was similar in plot to this film, but was 1,000,000 times better (As was "Arsene Lupin", with the Barrymore Brothers). As most people know Colman and Powell are very similar actors, very sophisticated and classy, and both did some of their best work as Detectives and in lighter roles, and both had a great role as an amnesiac ("Random Harvest" (Colman)) and ("Love Me Again" (Powell)). The difference is I never saw a Colman film that sucked, and this one and "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney" certainly did (And in both times Powell was on the other side of the law). What is frightening about "Jewel Robbery" is not even Loy could have made me like it. Zero stars.
bkoganbing
In Jewel Robbery the kind of character that William Powell plays is a gentleman thief, but he's not a guy like Ronald Colman in Raffles or Cary Grant in To Catch A Thief. He just barges in, holds people at gunpoint and robs them or in this case the establishment they're in.Which makes you kind of wonder why this guy hasn't been caught yet. The answer lies in the story and for the audience in the debonair charm of William Powell.At the time Powell was teamed with Kay Francis in this film. This was the fifth of six films they did together. Both came over from Paramount to Warner Brothers. Before Powell did Manhattan Melodrama at MGM with Myrna Loy and started that screen partnership, he was known for teaming with Kay Francis. The setting for Jewel Robbery, based on a play by Ladislas Fodor is old Vienna of the new Austria which became a more compact country after being shorn of both the Hapsburg monarchy and its Balkan dependents. Francis is in a jewelry store doing a little shopping with as it turns out both her titled husband Henry Kolker and her cabinet member lover Hardie Albright.When Powell and his gang come in to rob the place, Powell's such a charming dude, Francis decides he's far more interesting than either of the two guys she's involved with. He's kind of intrigued with her as well.In the Citadel series Films Of William Powell the criticism of Jewel Robbery is that this film could have been a classic with a director like Ernst Lubitsch. I also think Mitchell Leisen or George Cukor, or Gregory LaCava would have worked wonders with this film. Given some of the double entendre dialog and the ending of this film, it certainly would not have passed muster with The Code which was coming in two more years.As it is, it's a pleasant enough film, but could have been a whole lot better.
