''The Theft of the Mona Lisa'' (german: Der Raub der Mona Lisa) is a 1931 German

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Géza von Bolváry and starring

Trude von Molo Trude von Molo (22 December 1906 – 27 November 1989) was an Austrian film actress.Youngkin p.465 She was the daughter of the writer Walter von Molo and the twin sister of Conrad von Molo. Von Molo attended the Max Reinhardt training school. ...

Willi Forst Willi Forst, born Wilhelm Anton Frohs (7 April 1903 – 11 August 1980) was an Austrian actor, screenwriter, film director, film producer and singer. As a debonair actor he was a darling of the German-speaking film audiences, as a director, one ...

, and Gustaf Gründgens. It is based on

a true story ''A True Story'' ( grc, Ἀληθῆ διηγήματα, ''Alēthē diēgēmata''; or ), also translated as True History, is a long novella or short novel written in the second century AD by the Greek author Lucian of Samosata. The novel is a sa ...

. It was shot at the

Tempelhof Studios The Tempelhof Studios are a film studio located in Tempelhof in the German capital of Berlin. They were founded in 1912, during the silent era, by German film pioneer Alfred Duskes, who built a glass-roofed studio on the site with financial bac ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

.Klaus p.238 The film's sets were designed by the art directors Andrej Andrejew and

Robert A. Dietrich Robert A. Dietrich (28 March 1889 – 8 September 1947) was a German art director.Scheunemann p.277 He designed the sets for more than a hundred films during his career. Selected filmography * '' The Student of Prague'' (1913) * '' The Path of De ...

Plot

In 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia is a poverty-stricken Italian

glazier A glazier is a tradesman responsible for cutting, installing, and removing glass (and materials used as substitutes for glass, such as some plastics).Elizabeth H. Oakes, ''Ferguson Career Resource Guide to Apprenticeship Programs'' ( Infobase: ...

who falls in love with Mathilde, a French hotel maid. Struck by the girl's resemblance to Leonardo da Vinci's ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a Half length portrait, half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described ...

'', Vicenzo steals the painting from the Louvre in hopes of impressing her. When she proves to be fickle, the crestfallen hero confesses and is arrested. Unwilling to admit that he had been led astray by a woman, Vicenzo claims that he stole the painting in order to restore it to his native Italy and is hailed as a national hero.

Cast

References

Bibliography

* * Klaus, Ulrich J. ''Deutsche Tonfilme: Jahrgang 1931''. Klaus-Archiv, 2006.

External links

*
''Der Raub der Mona Lisa''
Full movie at the Deutsche Filmothek 1931 films Films of the Weimar Republic 1931 drama films German black-and-white films Films directed by Géza von Bolváry German heist films Films set in 1911 Films set in Paris German drama films Films scored by Robert Stolz Mona Lisa 1930s German films Films shot at Tempelhof Studios {{1930s-Germany-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

Bibliography

External links