MovieChat Forums > Trouble in Paradise (1932) Discussion > Is this the movie that started it all?

Is this the movie that started it all?

posted 7 years ago by missy (174)
2 replies | jump to latest

Watching this comedy tonight, with its elegant, high-toned air and sophisticated crooks -- made me wonder whether this was this the movie that started what would later become a subgenre of movies with chique, stylish thieves stealing from society's upper classes?

There might have been earlier ones -- I haven't yet looked. (The silent film era may include some of them.) This was one of the best examples I have seen. There were some fun capers later on, decades after this one was made.

Perhaps we could make a list of some of these movies? No unannounced spoilers, please (tags preferable). Add your favorites or ones that are of special interest or perhaps little known.

To qualify, a movie should have an air of sophistication; and heaping doses of humor, glamour, thieves with style and finesse -- exceptional wardrobes and sets welcome!

[–] missy (174) 7 years ago

For my first nomination, it has to be Blake Edwards' "A Shot in the Dark." Shot (pun intended) decades later, it has many of the hallmarks of "Trouble in Paradise" -- a dashing thief, silliness, wealthy folks (this time at a snowy ski resort), and of course the birth of Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau.

https://moviechat.org/tt0058586/A-Shot-in-the-Dark

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6543) 4 years ago

Very much the classic early film by Paramount, who specialized in these. Quintessential, really.
If you want others, look at a list of Paramount's early films.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Paramount_Pictures_films_(1930%E2%80%931939)

In general, most films directed by Ernst Lubitsch or Preston Sturges fit the bill.

Beyond that, most films by Billy Wilder as well.