At a time French TV is butchering Maurice Leblanc 's "l'île aux trente cercueils ", it's refreshing to watch this American adaptation ;it's not based on an original novel,mind you, but the screenwriters succeeded at capturing the spirit of Lupin's adventures ;Charles Korvin is well cast, for Leblanc's hero , the gentleman cambrioleur (=thief) was part aristocrat (on his mother's side) part man of the people (on his father's ) ; they mainly tried to imitate Lupin's first adventures ,the latter ones becoming more and more myterious and even verging on supernatural.
Ganimard,(J Carroll Naish)-the only other character who appears in some novels featured in this movie-is the official superintendent and provides it with its comic relief :the scene at the railway station when lupin makes him to be ...himself is riotously funny .
LIke in many adventures, Lupin is assisted by an accomplice,Armand .Both use French galore , sing the old folk song "auprès de ma blonde" (heard again for the finale) , ride on the orient express where they meet a lovely damsel (Ella Raines )soon to be in distress because she owns an invaluable esmerald and her nasty cousins want to do away with her ; hence ,both sides of Lupin are displayed : the thief who effortlessly steals Rembrandt 's paintings or jewels , but who gives to the orphanage and saves the damsel in distress.(By and large,though Lupin is an impenitent womanizer ,his love affairs are not happy in the books)Of course ,he uses a pseud (Monsieur D'Andrésy) one of his usual tricks.
And what a delight to hear the way they pronounce the name of the hero:Arsene Loopin!
