Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen (1934) User Reviews (3)

Alice Brady Saves the Day ... and the Film

[drednm · 4 February 2013]

This film was released more than a year after the Lindbergh kidnapping case and never makes a mention of that "crime of the century." Dorothea Wieck, in her second and last American film, stars as movie star Madeline Fane whose baby is kidnapped from her mansion. We never see the kidnapping and we never know why she has been targeted other than the fact that she is rich and famous. The first half of the film basically follows the frenzied star as she tries to deal with stupid policemen and the press in an effort to get back her baby (Baby LeRoy).

The other half of the film depicts the kidnappers (Alan, Hale, Jack La Rue, and Dorothy Burgess) in a cabin somewhere in the California hills above Los Angeles. Nosy neighbor Alice Brady, a fan of Miss Fane, suspects something isn't right in the neighboring cabin. Burgess has told her that the baby is a girl and they have disguised the baby's blond hair.

After a failed attempt to get their money, the kidnappers start to panic. They prepare to make a getaway while LaRue digs a hole outside the cabin. But Brady spies them and snatches the baby. She makes a wild escape down the hillside in her jalopy with the kidnappers in pursuit firing guns. The cops intercept them.

There is a brief scene where the kidnappers are sentenced, in record time, and a happy reunion. The sentencing of the kidnappers makes a veiled reference to the Lindbergh case as the judge piles on convictions and adds to their prison sentences so they'll never get paroled.

Wieck is OK, although she closely resembles Luise Rainer in looks and demeanor. Brady is sensational as the simple soul who saves the day. Hale, La Rue, and Burgess are good as the kidnappers. Baby LeRoy gurgles and coos on command, but Spanky McFarland (as Brady's youngest child) steals his scenes. William Frawley is the bumbling cop, George Barbier is the bumbling studio chief, Florence Roberts is the kindly housekeeper, and Edwin Maxwell is the tough judge.

After the failure of this film, Wieck went back to Germany, where she worked in films, TV, and on stage through the mid 70s.

A movie star's melodrama takes front focus over other world issues.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 16 January 2017]

An international depression, violence concerning prohibition and dangerous new leaders in power means squat over the personal trauma of a beloved movie star who doesn't really have star quality. Perhaps in her native country, in her native tongue, Dorothy Wieck was more gifted than her brief attempt at Hollywood fame. She's made out to try to be as glamorous as Garbo or Dietrich, but like many others who tried or failed, she made little, if any, impression.

It's a story obviously influenced by the Lindberg kidnapping, but the presentation here is melodramatic and often silly. Wieck overacts and emotes as if she was singing grand opera, and the story just gets more bizarre as it goes on.

Much of the story switches to second billed Alice Brady as a farm woman who accidentally comes across the kidnappers (Dorothy Burgess and Alan Hale) and risks everything to reunite mother and child. It's one of the most absurd stories, laughable from start to finish. The less said about Baby LeRoy the better, with Spanky McFarland providing a little amusement. William Frawley, as the detective, gets some lines that are real loo-loo's, as the old saying used to go.

Cornball Slapstick Leaves a Bad Taste

[JohnHowardReid · 3/10 · 13 April 2009]

A movie that is less successful than we might expect from its credits is Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen (1933). This weird bad-taste picture was hastily cobbled together to cash in on the 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnap. Unfortunately, the treatment of that tragic event is 90% farcical and only 10% dramatic. William Frawley plays his police captain for laughs, while Alice Brady commendably but unsuccessfully tries to steer a middle course between the script's intensive concentration on rub-your-nose-in-it slapstick elements and the horror of the real-life Lindbergh situation. The role of the distraught mother is sympathetically played by Dorothea Wieck, but she receives little support from director Alexander Hall, who can be seen playing himself in the film. Adrian Rosley was originally cast in this role but Hall objected to Rosley's clowning. A pity Hall didn't put his foot down regarding other aspects of the objectionable script. Cameraman Al Gilks (sitting beside the camera, and then walking off the set with Hall) also plays himself in the movie shoot within the movie.