Sunday, June 10, 2012

Lupin!



ARSENE LUPIN-1932-Dueling Barrymores! Lionel is a French detective trying to catch the master jewel thief Arsene Lupin. John is the Duke of Charmerace who may actually be Lupin. There's some clever dialogue but the story is rather drawn out. Like many early talkies it suffers from being more like a filmed play. Also with Karen Morley, John Miljan, Tully Marshall and in un-credited roles Mischa Auer and Joe Sawyer.

The Lupin character was created by French author Maurice Leblanc (a contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle)  in 1905. He wrote several Lupin stories that spawned sequels by other authors, films, a TV show and even an Anime series from Japan!


Director Jack Conway had directed many silent films and the "talkie" remake of THE UNHOLY THREE with Lon Chaney. He later made high profile films like A TALE OF TWO CITIES, VIVA VILLA and DRAGON SEED. 


The same year as AL both Barrymore brothers were featured in GRAND HOTEL and with their sister Ethel in RASPUTIN AND THE PRINCESS (the only film to feature all 3 siblings). 


Thanks for reading! 






 

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