Writing a review is easy, but rating it isn't that easy. One way to rate a movie is to freeze the brain, and look whether the movie is enjoyable or boring, or could be seen, with portions skipped / fast-forwarded. On this scale this movie is above average (my 7*, may be another half). The pace is good, the story, though quite predictable, has some fresh episodes, for example towards the end, the heroine conning her mentor, or even afterwards, the one upmanship of the same mentor on the heroine to carry out the jewel heist. Of course there is another 'ethical' angle of the heroine. She, though the honey-bait, of the racket, but legally, she did all her transactions purely above board, and in quite an ingenious way. When she sold the false-antique, she declared openly and vociferously that it was not real, but the greedy buyer though otherwise. And in addition to good performance by the heroine, Vera Zorina, and her ballet in the end, there was brilliant comedy by Peter Lorre, the second side-kick, the first being Zorina, of the mastermind, the sinister Stroheim. With above average performance by these three, around which the story revolved, the others didn't matter much, and Richard Greene, the love interest, didn't have much role, than being the eye-candy of the piece, and he didn't hurt. The second way to look at the movie and rate them is through critical analysis, forgetting the enjoyable-ness of it. On this, this movie would be quite below average. It has quite a bit of large loop-holes and gaffs . For example, the society page, declaring the return of the new couple, was in English, in a french news paper, that would have been OK, had it been a notice. But it was the society tit-bits, not the notice put by the family. Similarly, the great mastermind being unaware of his protege marrying, and that too one of the top ten richest men of the continent, in addition any one would have guessed her chances, was a blot on his intelligence, and mine, if I didn't notice it. Similarly, the sudden discovery of the fact too was a bit far-fetched. Which he should have in the beginning itself, when he traced her in the ballet, after all, being the wife of the big-man, she would have been well known. A few days search, and some chance encounter, it would have been alright, but then he would have missed the chance of heist, which was necessary to close the movie.On this scale, naturally the movie, balancing for the plus (the intelligent heist plans, which are actually brilliant, and not fault-able) and the minus (the loopholes), probably it would fall in the 6* or a bit less category. Close the logical portion of the brain, and enjoy, it is enjoyable. .

A phony slap-happy countess (ballet legend Vera Zorina) is fooling the social elite of the most upscale of European hotels, walking up to total strangers (whom she's researched, of course), clobbering them and then profusely apologizing for mistaking who they were. Of course, she then cons them and quickly disappears, that is if she isn't selling them a valuable piece of jewelry for much more than its worth (and having the victim of the con sign a statement indicating that they were told that the piece of jewelry that they overpaid on was a copy). She's not the mastermind behind these schemes; That falls to the autocrat Erich Von Stroheim and his somewhat dimwitted sidekick (Peter Lorre) who took Ms. Zorina under their wing from the streets.When her attempt to fleece a handsome stranger (Richard Greene), fails, she finds herself falling in love and decides to leave her con-game with Von Stroheim and Lorre behind. All it takes is for Greene to slap Ms. Zorina back to get her to change her fleecing ways and wake her up. But that can't get Von Stroheim and Lorre off her back; Once a beautiful meal ticket, always a beautiful meal ticket, but she's gone onto become a ballet star and become Greene's loyal wife. With her past ready to come back and haunt her, she's got some pretty quick thinking and scheming to do, and her intended victims are pretty formidable.Beautifully filmed and acted with a delightful tongue-in-cheek, this shows Von Stroheim in a light he rarely had an opportunity to take on. He seems to enjoy being less serious than normal, although he does play the role totally seriously. There's a sparkle in his eye in this one, and his pairing with Lorre is equivalent to what Lorre would do over at Warner Brothers with Sydney Greenstreet. Zorina (as she is billed) makes an enticing heroine, and if not given a terribly difficult role to play, she does so beautifully, and when she dances, she's magnetic. Greene is a handsome, feisty hero, giving as much to Zorina as she gives to him. This is a film which deserves higher recognition, as sophisticated a comedy as other more well known films.

I bought this DVD - which I had never seen anywhere previously - primarily because I am a lifelong admirer of John O'Hara and knew he'd worked on this title (he does in fact get an on-screen credit) and figured anything else would be a bonus. As it happened there was a fair amount of anything else though it's equally true to say that the films lacks any kind of element that would serve to single it out from a dozen others of the same genre produced at roughly the same time. Con teams were not exactly thin on the ground in the 30s and 40s and the only thing to distinguish this trio is the combination which errs on the side of the bizarre; honcho Erich Van Stroheim, dumbo Peter Lorre with Zorina as the honey trapper. It works well enough and Sig Ruman and Fritz Feld are happy to sit still as gullible marks but Richard Greene as the mark-turned-Prince Charming isn't really up to matching acting chops with Lorre and Von Stroheim. Well worth watching.

This film stars Vera Zorina and since she was once an accomplished ballerina, several dance numbers and an allusion to "Swan Lake" was inserted into the film. I'd love to make some humorous comment about a stunt dancer now claiming credit for all this, but Ms. Zorina was a world-famous dancer before she became an actress.This film is set in a weird Europe--one where there is no war at all--even though it came out in 1940--during the German occupation of France, the Battle of Britain and Mussolini--none of which are even mentioned in the movie! Zorina, Erich von Stroheim and Peter Lorre (all three who had strong Germanic roots) are a team of swindlers who prowl the hot-spots of Europe ripping off unsuspecting members of the upper class. However, when Zorina meets sweet Richard Greene, she falls instantly in love and can't continue her wicked ways. She reforms and they soon marry--though she never tells him about her very sordid past. So, when her old 'comrades' show up some time later, she's afraid to say anything--though she knows von Stroheim and Lorre are up to no good.This is a somewhat familiar theme for Hollywood. With films like "Lady Eve", "Jewel Robbery" and "Trouble in Paradise" (just to name a few), it's obvious the public had a great fascination with these 'lady or gentleman criminal' movies. Here, like these other films, there is some comedy and some romance--and the ending is rather predictable as it follows a familiar pattern. Compared to these other films, "I Was An Adventuress", it's about average--not as good as some and a bit better than others. I liked the actors--they were all pretty good choices. The script was decent---not outstanding or as sweet as "Trouble in Paradise" or "Lady Eve"--but still pretty good. Overall, it's worth watching and a nice time-passer.