David Brian was great here. Why? He was able to show in his acting that he could be a suave character, but at the same time, vicious, when he had to be.This true story follows his burglary career from New York to California. It is amazing how he is able to elude capture from police for so long.Jacqueline de Wit was just perfect as the wealthy California woman taken in by our charming Brian. Marjorie Reynolds showed real vulnerability as the nurse, who became his wife, and ultimately turned him in.Obviously, this is Brian's film and he certainly made the most of it. His narration of it was wonderful and really gets you to think at the end. Was it really the end for this sophisticated thief?

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.

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.

THE GREAT JEWEL ROBBER was released by Warner Bros as the bottom half of a double feature, an added attraction to the bicentennial documentary "50 Years Before Your Eyes." I saw it with my Dad at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC and still remember it and the lasting impression it made.The summary on this site is honest but simply inadequate to the film's merits; the intensely convincing performance by David Brian as well as the unusual inclusion of a strong point-of view. What sticks in the mind is the jewel thief's absolute and irreversible commitment to his trade and lifestyle. The film wants you to understand that he sees no alternative at all to being a jewel thief any more than a leopard sees any alternative to being a hunter. Actually, changing the leopard's ways would be easier. The film wants you to revel somewhat in each clever success, and in association and deceit of high society people; but much more than that it wants you to appreciate the pain, misery and depression involved. Another time caught, another long prison sentence, another delay in returning to crime --- his joy in life.Seeing this at age 12, did I then follow David Brian's lead and enter a life of crime? Not at all; the film was more of a dissuader than any other crime film. I also had strong religious training, the more important of the two.I saw a Randolph Scott movie tonight with David Brian as the bad guy and The Great Jewel Robber was quickly remembered after 57 years. I can't recommend the movie, I suppose. Dismissed by Warners in 1950 as a B movie, I have no clue how you could see this movie, never seen it rerun, not one time.