I AM A THIEF

Ricardo Cortez and Mary Astor

I AM A THIEF (1934). Director: Robert Florey.

Jewel robberies have become such frequent occurrences in Paris that the board of the insurance firm Hayle's Ltd figures that post-war adventurers have banded together for the purposes of crime. At an auction for the famous Karenina Diamond necklace, the bidders include Odette (Mary Astor) and Pierre (Ricardo Cortez of The Big Shakedown) who wins the necklace and begins a romance with Odette. The action then switches to the Orient Express, where Odette has followed Pierre when he suddenly takes the train to Istanbul. There are other sinister characters, necklace switches and jewel robberies, and at least one murder on the Orient Express.

Irving Pichel and Astor

I Am a Thief is an entertaining picture that keeps you in suspense because you don't know for quite a while just who is the "thief" of the title, with one never being certain if either Astor or Cortez are "on the side of the angels." Astor, looking comparatively drab, is excellent, as usual, while an amiable Cortez gets by mostly on charm. There are good performances from Irving Pichel [Dick Tracy's G-Men] as Count Trentini; Dudley Digges as Colonel Jackson, who wants to buy the necklace from Pierre; Ferdinand Gottschalk as the little fellow, Cassiet; and Hobart Cavanaugh [Dangerous Blondes] as the insurance man Daudet. Although this has a very different plot, Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express was published the same year. Suspects are gathered in a coach at one point just as in the Christie novel.

Verdict: Smooth, fun picture with good performances. ***.