An elaborate, lavishly produced and decidedly pre-code melodrama largely set in Paris (and which contains some wonderful location work), director G.W.Pabst's camera sweeps through this film in energetic pursuit of the many characters, convolutions and coincidences thrown up in his path by novelist Ilya Ehrenburg.
Most of the supporting cast overact enjoyably outrageously; Fritz Rasp actually gets to twirl his moustache a few times as the villain, while Robert Scholz is wonderfully sneering as the chief of police who thinks he has the hero at his mercy. Quieter performances are offered by leads Édith Jéhanne and Uno Henning, and two actors to become familiar as Hollywood expats are Sig Arno as a reporter who recovers a stolen diamond by pulling a parrot's head off, and Vladimir Sokoloff (one of the very few bona fide Russians in the cast), who it's nice to see in a sympathetic role substantially larger than most of those he later played in Hollywood.
Most of the supporting cast overact enjoyably outrageously; Fritz Rasp actually gets to twirl his moustache a few times as the villain, while Robert Scholz is wonderfully sneering as the chief of police who thinks he has the hero at his mercy. Quieter performances are offered by leads Édith Jéhanne and Uno Henning, and two actors to become familiar as Hollywood expats are Sig Arno as a reporter who recovers a stolen diamond by pulling a parrot's head off, and Vladimir Sokoloff (one of the very few bona fide Russians in the cast), who it's nice to see in a sympathetic role substantially larger than most of those he later played in Hollywood.