George Sanders is perfectly cast as real-life 18th-century rake Eugène François Vidocq in this witty, sophisticated crime caper. Born in a French jail cell, Vidocq goes from stealing horses to women’s garters to jewels—before famously reforming to become a renowned criminologist. Sirk (aided by fellow German expatriates like cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan and composer Hanns Eisler) brings a distinctly Continental style to this Lubitschian comedy of manners, while Sanders gets the opportunity to deliver some of his most deliciously barbed bon mots this side of All About Eve’s Addison DeWitt. The director himself considered A Scandal in Paris a personal favorite among his films.