Trouble in Paradise (1932)
After a streak of being somewhat underwhelmed by otherwise highly rated movies, I really appreciated this old screwball heist classic movie. Just what I needed.
It takes one to know one, as two thieves fall in love and start working together on a scheme to get money from a wealthy lady owning a perfume company. The gags may be old fashioned with how the keep stealing from each other, but both play it with so much playful charm. Which flows through the entire movie. The pace is brisk but never hectic. All characters are basically likeable, thieves and victims both, and Herbert Marshall plays the role of the charming social engineer to perfection. The dialogue flows smoothly and convincingly. And despite it being somewhat old fashioned with regards to both female leads being a romantic interest for the male lead, Madame Colet and Lily are fully fledged interesting female characters, that would become rarer to see from Hollywood in the following decades.
Most if it may be just fun and games, but the film doesn’t shy away from having some stabs at the rich in this great depression era of the early 1930s.
Rating: 3.5