I Was an Adventuress (1940)

Really Surprised!

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Am I Missing Something?

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

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.

This was an absolutely miserable film. It's basically the story of 3 thieves-ballet dancer Zorina, who was basically no actress, as she proved when she was replaced by Ingrid Bergman in "Casablanca," as well as Erich Von Stroheim and Peter Lorre. They use all sorts of tactics to woo their victims and then steal from them, primarily jewelry. Of course, one of the victims is Richard Greene, but love follows between Zorina and Greene, and they wed.The film fails to explain why Lorre took the actions he did in the end. Was he really a good natured guy?The most exciting scene of this dull film was the car chase, but that literally loses gas as well.Suddenly, Zorina is performing "Swan Lake." The whole film is one big mystery, and badly made at that. There is definitely a problem of continuity and lack of interest here.

"Lubitsch lite" might be the best description of this beguiling romantic comedy. Its charm relies to a surprising extent on the effervescent chemistry between its two male stars, Peter Lorre and Erich von Stroheim. These are not the most likely of sidekicks, but you'd be surprised how deftly these two play off one another, like a Mittel European Laurel and Hardy, as the cherubic kleptomaniac Polo (Lorre) and his sly con-artist buddy Andre (Stroheim). It's easy to imagine a series of comedy adventures based on Polo and Andre--actually, Stroheim and Lorre make a more entertaining duo than Lorre and Greenstreet. The lovely Zorina keeps up with them beautifully, as well as delivering a very photogenic performance in the "Swan Lake" ballet sequence (choreographed by her husband, George Balanchine) which anticipates "The Red Shoes" in its dynamically cinematic, semi-surreal style.