OK, so this was a cool movie. It was funny, exciting, and most of all, not sappy.
Sophie Lang was played by Gertrude Michael. This was the biggest role I've seen her in. She had bit parts in movies I've seen such as "Unashamed" (1932), "Night of Terror" (1933), "Ann Vickers" (1933), and "I'm No Angel" (1933). She had a fairly significant part in "Search for Beauty" (1934), "Murder at the Vanities" (1934), and "Murder on the Blackboard" (1934), but she wasn't the main character. "The Notorious Sophie Lang" was a real showcase for her.
Sophie was a master thief. She was so good that no one even knew what she looked like. The movie began with her robbing a jewelry store and slyly getting away. She had been dormant for five years, but she was back in business because she had an ego like most greats.
She'd heard that Maximillian Bernard (Paul Cavanagh), Europe's most acclaimed thief, was in town (New York) and she couldn't be outdone by him. It was a matter of professional pride that she get in contact with him and see which of the two was better.
Trying to catch Sophie was Police Inspector Stone (Arthur Byron). He had an idea of how to catch Sophie when he was apprised that the man claiming to be Nigel Crane was none other than Max Bernard (Cavanagh). Stone would use Max Bernard to catch Sophie Lang.
He intentionally kept hidden the fact he knew Nigel Crane was Max Bernard. Then he played to Bernard's ego by proclaiming that Sophie Lang was a much better and more accomplished thief. He hoped that Max would get to work to disprove such a theory and that he would seek out Sophie Lang. Meanwhile, Stone would have his man Stubbs (Leon Errol) tailing him to catch both thieves.
It was nothing but fun and a wee bit of romance from then on. As an added treat, Alison Skipworth was in the picture playing Aunt Nellie, Sophie Lang's aunt and right hand woman. I did enjoy this movie. I'd seen several other cat burglar movies from that era such as "Arsene Lupin," "Raffles," "Jewel Robbery" and a few others. It was cool to see a female cat burglar; and one who didn't fail because she fell in love.
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