Thieves in the Night

Arriving at theatres a few months before the iconic 1960 Lewis Milestone film Ocean’s Eleven, Henry Hathaway’s Seven Thieves is its lesser known forerunner, yet despite being in its long casting shadow, it is a whole lot of fun.

Set in Monte Carlo, disgraced professor and scientist Theo Wilkins (Edward G. Robinson) is the mastermind of a daring plot to rob a posh, extravagant casino in the picturesque Principality of Monaco. Uniting a talented group of shady individuals, the aging ringleader has called on longtime American acquaintance Paul Mason (Rod Steiger), a smart man who has worked with Wilkins before, hoping that he will be his right-hand man as well as the iron fist that will keep everyone in line.

Unexcited by the prospect of failing and spending the rest of his life in jail, he grudgingly agrees to the man’s pleas (basically, an unwillingness to take no for an answer), meeting the rest of his partners in crime at a burlesque style nightclub. A fascinating sequence that provides us with a bird’s eye view of the various characters and their personas, the team is rounded out by seductive stripper Melanie (Joan Collins), her longtime handler/saxophonist Poncho (Eli Wallach), slick safecracker Louis Antonizzi (Michael Dante), getaway driver/all-round thug Hugo Baumer (Berry Kroeger), and their twitchy inside man at the casino, Raymond Le May (Alexander Scourby) – seduced by the lovely dame, she has used his weakness for women and his desire and greed for riches to draw the man into their sordid plan.

Wilkins’ complex caper asks the most of its team, a plan that is an intricately timed heist that consists of fine acting performances (in a sense, each one of the thieves takes on a different persona), daring stunts, nuanced actions, and more than a tinge of luck. Planning the robbery on the same night as the casino’s grand celebration (their busiest night of the year), they will use the festivities as a sort of screen. Will the eclectic crew be able to pull off the scheme, or will they find themselves behind bars?

Filmizon.com’s Nikolai Adams with Michael Dante, who plays safecracker Louis Antonizzi in Seven Thieves – photo taken at Trekonderoga 2017

In many ways a character driven piece, each of the talented actors that form the seven thieves brings an intriguing, very human quality to their respective parts. Wilkins, with a past full of disgrace and loss, sees the heist as a way to rebound from former missteps – hoping that it will propel him back into a position of power in his native America. Steiger’s Mason, hiding his own secret, is perhaps the most well rounded and honest of the thieves. Despite his profession, he has a moral compass, as well as the type of logic and reason that can combat almost any situation. Melanie is an interesting character study. With a torrid past, she has found her way onto the stage as a burlesque dancer (wholly realistic, taught by Candy Barr, who she called “the best stripper in America”), though she wants more – despite the fact that her predicament feels inescapable. On the other hand, being the only woman of the group draws the eye of several of the men, machismo causes its own problems within a group that must function like a perfectly maintained Swiss timepiece. In many ways, this problem is exacerbated by Poncho, as his past with the woman makes him ornery when anyone takes a glance in her shapely direction. Dante’s Antonizzi (top left in headlining photo, next to Steiger and Collins), despite his slick facade, is not as calm, cool and collected as he would like his mates to think (perfectly encapsulated by the visually impressive sequence in which he and Mason must journey outside the window of the opulent building to sneak into another locked room with a private elevator). Baumer is a man who looks to violence first and foremost – something the rest must keep an eye on, as armed robbery will send them to the gallows compared to a much lighter charge if they get caught without weapons. Finally, Le May is perhaps the most dangerous of all – a weaselly wild card who is lacking in nerve and allegiance.

Fusing the foreign flares of classic French crime flicks like Rififi with veteran Hollywood director Hathaway’s very American production, Sydney Boehm’s screenplay (which is based on Max Catto’s novel “Lions At The Kill”) is a tale grounded in realistic performances and a few surprises as the story rushes to its conclusion (and some unexpected irony to boot). So, win big by seeing this little known motion picture, you most definitely won’t want to return it.