Poorly written and acted, with George Sanders playing a plainly unlikable character. The only compliment I can pay this is for its elegant visuals.

Sanders is an unabashed rogue who masquerades his way up to the position of Paris police chief, and director Sirk surrounds this tale of pretence with images of artificiality: disguises, silhouettes, a painter and his models, carousel animals, a clothed monkey. Tamiroff is surprisingly subtle, Carole Landis is brash, brittle and lovely, and even Gene Lockhart's cuckold is allowed a moment of tragic dignity. Sanders' elegant narration holds it together: witty, unflappable, slightly bored.