The Great Jewel Robber

Yep, that is the motto of jewel thief David Brian (Gerry) for any situations that may involve incarceration.

This is the story of real-life gentleman thief Gerald Dennis who burgled the wealthy and the famous and carried out a blitz in Hollywood that included stars such as Joan Crawford and Errol Flynn. When he was caught, police found a list of his next targets that included Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Ginger Rogers and Louis Mayer! He was prolific. I guess he just liked jewels and furs!

The film cracks on at a good pace and Brian is good in the lead role and convincing as a smooth conman who plays on his charms so that women let him into their confidence. We have episodes with five different women in this film, six if you count Cleo Moore as the blonde at the end when he gets caught.

Some people like windows and become window-makers. This guy liked jewels and furs, so he immersed himself in that particular industry. Let's face it, they are expensive!

"The Great Jewel Robber" is based on the real life crook, Gerard Dennis. I did a bit of research and Dennis really was a famous jewel thief and at least SOME of what's in the movie is true. However, since he was active in the 1940s, there really isn't much information about him on the internet...so how true the film version of his exploits is, I cannot say.

David Brian was an extremely good actor who's pretty much forgotten today. While apparently a nice guy in real life (who was big on fundraising for the needy), in films he often played wonderfully hardbitten jerks. In this one, however, he's more suave and likable....but clearly he plays a total sociopath! And, when it comes to portraying the life of a career criminal and antisocial personality (the clinical term for a 'sociopath'), Brian and the writers did a terrific job...and they packed a LOT into 91 minutes of film. My daughter kept remarking how the film had enough plot for seven movies! Overall, extremely well made and worth seeing....and also interesting because unlike most films of the era, the cops in this movie are amazingly inept and the criminal is amazingly talented and brilliant in his real-life maneuvers to evade them.

By the way, while this film technically isn't exactly film noir (since it's true and lacks the lighting and cinematography of such a crime film), it's amazingly brutal in spots...particularly when the anti-hero is beating up one of his many ladyfriends.

Peter Godfrey directs a Borden Chase script of one of the Warner Brothers' "ripped from the headlines" B movies. Although several sequences recall other, better remembered movies -- the prison escape is a fast-track version of a similar bit from I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG -- the best description I can offer is that this is a criminal procedural -- the hows and wherefores of how a crook goes about his profession, instead of the more familiar police procedurals, of how they are caught.

Peter Godfrey, who never got out of the Bs despite some great work, is very sure-handed in his direction, with bit of dark humor shot through the work. Bill Lava's obtrusive score is heavy-handed, but the rambling, worried lead character played by David Brian is very real, and the treacherous world he lives in is well captured by Chase, who started out as a gangster's chauffeur -- until Al Capone had his boss killed and Chase decided to go into a safer line of work.

Pretty good thick-ear, based on the true life exploits of master jewel thief Gerard Dennis. Seems Dennis has an eye for beautiful things, both women and big-time gemstones, and doesn't much care how he goes about getting them. Actor Brian looks the womanizing part with enough smiling charm to access society's higher reaches where fancy baubles suddenly disappear, while he just keeps smiling. And why not, since some of Hollywood's classiest looking dames—deWit, Talton, Chandler—fall for him in short order. But, as we were all taught by old movies like this one, crime doesn't pay, at least for some people.

I like the way director Godfrey keeps things moving, especially that nail-biting 'human fly' sequence. Also, the screenplay manages a few minor surprises, thanks to ace scripter Borden Chase, whose real life exploits give him inside exposure to crime and criminals (check out his rather surprising bio). Heck, the script even has Dennis trying to pick up cheap blonde Cleo Moore while his wife looks on, in a nifty little sequence. However, I think the material would have worked better as noir instead of less expressive docu-drama. In fact, the film has an overall drab look, unbefitting the sometimes sumptuous surroundings and the strong narrative drama.

Nonetheless, for an obscure programmer, the movie is fast moving and better than average.

Canadian thief Gerard Graham Dennis (David Brian) gets turned in by his girlfriend's angry father. He escapes from prison work detail and sneaks across the border. He makes a series of robberies stealing only jewelry and furs. Using many aliases, he charms the ladies and works with criminals. While he breaks into empty homes, he does get violent when the plans go wrong. He keeps moving until he reaches Beverly Hills. The police almost catches him, but he continues to be slippery.

I like the cross-country crime spree aspect and his charms with the ladies. I would like to play up his character's supposed leading man looks. I don't want to hate on David Brian, but this is geared up for a real matinee star playing with some gorgeous ladies. In the end, this is a lower budget affair that is hitting above its weight.