User Reviews

Claire Trevor seems to be channeling Myrna Loy in this one of the eight B movies she headed for director Allan Dwan. In the other one I saw, she seemed to be doing Rosalind Russell, but here she's not playing an intellectual, but a jewel thief. At least she seems to be a jewel thief until it turns out she's actual the niece and partner of the man who who insures jewelers against losses. She investigates fellow jewel thief Cesar Romero by romancing him.

There are some very nice incidents in this short movie. Keep an eye out for Paul Fix as a labor agitator who gets his, as well as a short subject on the cutting of a major diamond.

Copyright 30 October 1936 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation. New York opening at the Palace: 16 October 1936. U.S. release: 16 October 1936. U.K. release: 17 April 1937. Australian release: 25 November 1936. 5,825 feet. 64 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Romero plays a suave and unscrupulous jewel thief and Trevor plays an insurance detective who joins his gang.

COMMENT: Oddly enough, this is not a romance but a straight gangster thriller. Such romantic elements as there may be, are purely perfunctory or functionary so far as the jewel thieves plot is concerned. Although it is basically serious, there is some humor, as in the episode with Paul Fix's Communist agitator which is verbally recapped twice later on, as cheap and flashy Ralf Harolde inadvertently defends the Constitution.

Director Alan Dwan handles it all in his usual super-efficient style (very effective use is made twice of overhead shots) and, as usual with Sol Wurtzel's Fox "B"-features, production values are exceptionally lavish.

There is a grand cast, headed by Claire Trevor, looking very glamorous in a heady variety of Herschel costumes (we don't like his hide-all furs in the fashion show sequence but then this is rather short in length). This film is virtually right in the middle of her Fox period as queen of their "B"-features and if this is any sample, justifiably so crowned.

Cesar Romero plays the chief villain with polished unpleasantness, while Douglas Fowley has one of his typical roles as a shady go-between. Lester Matthews makes a suave counterpoint to Romero's ruthlessness, whilst Robert McWade is his usual grouchy self as the heroine's dad. Lloyd Nolan plays the detective with customary ease (we love the scene with Murray Kinnell's ingratiating old crook with which the film commences).

Natalie Moorhead, queen of the "Z"-graders, has a small but effective role as a decoy.

Dwan has directed at a rapid pace, skimming his camera through Duncan Cramer's expansive sets. Seitz's photography sparkles even more than the fancy jewels on display (they are probably glass anyway, though they certainly look real enough even in close-up).

Production credits are generally first-class and altogether, by "B"-feature standards, the film provides first-rate entertainment - definitely not one to come late for, as the film jumps off with a punch right from the start, the necessary explanations being rather cleverly handled in the exchange between Nolan and Kinnell (Nolan's typically fast delivery is an asset here as is Dwan's fluid camera), and then the film jumps straight into action.