writers_reign There isn't one sub-standard frame in this delightful romp; it oozes sophistication and could have been made a good decade later than it was. It doesn't get better than Kay Francis and William Powell - and the very next year Powell would team up with Myrna Loy for the first in the Thin Man franchise - who both walk on air through this soufflé which is perfect in all departments starting, of course, with the script by Sampson Raphaelson, albeit adapted from yet another - Liliom, The Shop Around The Corner - Hungarian playwright, through the direction of William Diertle to the brilliant playing of Powell and Francis with first-class support from the rest of the cast. A gem of a jewel robbery.

Michael Morrison Kay Francis was never, in my possibly limited experience, so light and charming, even though her character is stupid and immoral.Her speech defect, which I had never noticed before, was very apparent in this role, but seems to have just added another layer of charm.William Powell, as the thief who preferred to be called "robber," was his usual self, which is pretty good.But, all in all, this is a pretty bad movie.The last shot is a regrettable reminder we have been wasting our time on a movie, and the movie as a whole is, indeed, pretty much a waste of time.Stupid and immoral people are too much in the news to be also a source of entertainment.Good directing and pretty good acting do not make up for the absence of any quality in the story.

Michael_Elliott Jewel Robbery (1932)*** (out of 4) William Powell stars as a masterful jewel robber who uses not only his mind but also his charm when it comes time to pull a job. On his latest job he meets a victim (Kay Francis) and quickly becomes fixated on her but not half as much as the crush she grows on him. Soon the two are trying to come together even while the police are still looking for him. Powell remains a fairly popular star today due to many classic movies but this one here is usually forgotten about and never mentioned, which is a real shame because this is one of the better pre-code comedies out there. Not only do we have Powell being as charming as ever but we also get some very risky material, which certainly could only belong in a pre-code. For starters, we get Francis playing a bored wife, not girlfriend, who keeps trying to run off with another man. Secondly, during the robbery Powell wants to make his victims forget what they saw and go to sleep so he gives them "laughing cigarettes", which is naturally marijuana. There are several scenes where people are smoking on these joints, not knowing what they are, and then laughing with no idea of how dumb they look.. These scenes are extremely funny and at times downright hysterical considering the time frame that the movie was released. As funny as REEFER MADNESS is these scenes are even funnier. Powell is the main reason to watch this film because of his charm and wit, which are all over every scene. Francis wasn't as impressive but I think a lot of this is due to her character being rather annoying. The movie is very fast paced from start to finish and it never takes a break and these are just more reasons for catching this gem when it shows up on television.

MartinHafer Kay Francis plays a bored rich lady who, frankly, is a bit of a selfish weasel. Despite having a rich and doting husband, she has affairs and is constantly bored (in psychological terms, perhaps she's a Borderline Personality). Then, when she and her husband and lover are caught in the middle of a jewel robbery, she is suddenly smitten by the seemingly gallant thief (William Powell).In the 1930s, there were several films about gentlemen thieves and the women who loved them. The best of these, by far, was Ernst Lubitsch's TROUBLE IN PARADISE and ONE WAY PASSAGE (also starring William Powell and Kay Francis) was great but unfortunately JEWEL ROBBERY isn't up to the quality of these other films. It's sad, too, as the thief is played by one of my favorite actors, William Powell. He handles the role just fine, but is definitely inhibited by the talkiness of the script and rather confined atmosphere. It really seems obvious when watching it that this was once a play, as there just isn't much action or energy. Because of this, it is watchable but also seems a bit silly and stagy.By the way, if you see this film, you'll see that Powell gives marijuana to those he robs and they smoke it--not knowing what it is. Seeing them light up and almost instantly become stoned is both shocking because they'd put this in the script and silly because no one gets that goofy that quickly. Because this film was made during the so-called "Pre-Code" era, some Hollywood films definitely pushed the envelope--featuring adultery, drugs, strong sexual innuendo, nudity and questionable language/gestures. The way adultery and drug use are glamorized in this film will definitely surprise many modern viewers, as they probably didn't know they dealt with such topics in the early 30s.