Movie Reviewed: Arsène Lupin, starring Lionel Barrymore and John Barrymore

The story of Arsene Lupin, the gentleman thief

Lionel Barrymore was Louis Mayer’s favorite actor at MGM Studios and shared this view with fellow executive Irving Thalberg. The studio casted Lionel Barrymore and also picked his brother John Barrymore to play the role of the gentleman thief in this 1932 hit. They made several hit movies for the studio including the “Grand Hotel” also a 1932 film. Arsene Lupin is probably the first movie of MGM under new contracts. The story is about a gentlemen thief (John Barrymore) who causes significant scare and headache for the Paris residents and the police department. His nemesis, the chief police investigator played by Lionel Barrymore faces embarrassing moments in apprehending the culprit, the thief always manages to escape narrowly.

Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941) was the creator of the character of gentleman thief Arsène Lupin and Lupin was popular character in the French speaking world as Sherlock Holmes in the English speaking countries. This film was the first for the two brothers, although they worked together on stage in several shows. The casting was a historic spark off each other, and the movie was a box-office hit when released in 1932. Jack Conway directed this story that also co-starred Karen Morley, Tully Marshall, and John Miljan. It was based on the script of Carey Wilson, Lenore Coffee and Bayard Villier.