Review of Jewel Robbery

Snappy and very different movie set in Vienna with Kay Francis bored with her husband, her lover, and her life. She confides to a friend that she wishes for some excitement. Enter William Powell, exhibiting characteristics that made him great in the Thin Man series. He is exciting, witty, and charming - if also a thief and the leader of a very large and organized gang. The robbery of the jewel store is something else with Powell convincing the security guard to take out two bags to the car outside and playing Viennese music on a record player to keep the victims calm. To engineer his get away, Powell offers the victims either a smoke from a drugged cigarette (never named) or a short stay in the vault. Kay is offered a third alternative to be taken to the suburbs and deposited unharmed but she elects to stay in the store and not turn in the alarm. After all, Powell has just made her the toast of the social scene for the foreseeable future as the victim of such a daring robbery - why would she give the alarm? A few twists, turns, surprises towards the end, as Kay eventually decides whether to chose excitement or security. The relationship between Kay Francis and William Powell is the movie. Will she take what she has wished for? Lots of overt mention of sleeping around - a rather sad commentary on the state of matrimony in the upper classes at the time. Very good (but not great), very different for a mainstream movie, recommended because it is so different.