Jewel Robbery (1932)

This film is entertaining enough and has its moments. Kay Francis plays a rich woman who enjoys being pampered by her servants and expensive jewelry from her husband. While she's at a jewelers picking up her latest bauble (a 28 carat diamond ring), William Powell strolls in with his crew to lead a very leisurely, dignified robbery. Naturally, the pair make goo-goo eyes at each other, and she's happy when he's not caught. One of the amusing little pre-code laughs is Powell doling out marijuana cigarettes, not referred to by name, but which after a few puffs leave those partaking to get quite silly (and Powell warning that they'll be hungry afterwards). There's also a fair bit of playful innuendo mixed in, one example of which is her friend telling her of a robbery in which a woman was "stripped right down to her teddies," and that if it happened to her, she would "let the train go on," because "When I'm travelling at the rate of 80 miles per hour, I'm not responsible for my actions." It's made clear that Francis has just broken off one affair, and she says she leads a boring, shallow life in which her schedule is "In the morning a cocktail. In the afternoon a man." And Powell all but propositions Francis when he wants to hide out in her bedroom for an evening, saying that in the morning they'll have a "secret behind them." It's all very light though, and while director William Dieterle creates a near Lubitschean feel in the playfulness of it all, there's something a bit awkward and off in the film's pacing, and the dynamic between Powell and Francis. They're certainly better together in 'One Way Passage' from the same year, but this one's passable.