If you can’t go to jewelry, perhaps because you are forced to stay at home, you can still watch films in which jewelry plays an important role. Here are the top 10 movies about jewelry or where precious stones, necklaces, earrings and rings are as important as the actors they act. There are old and new ones, fun or thrilling: however, everyone can like those who are passionate about jewelry and precious stones. Do others come to mind? Write and we will add them to the list!
1 Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). Audrey Hepburn and her little black dress in front of the windows of the most famous jewelry in New York and beyond, are a must to review. The beginning of the story, taken from a book by Truman Capote, is mythical: at dawn, an elegant girl, Holly Golightly, gets out of a taxi that stops on Fifth Avenue in New York. While she looks at the windows of Tiffany & Co., Holly has a quick breakfast before walking home.
2 The pink panther (1963) Contrary to what many think, the Pink Panther is not the nickname of David Niven, the actor who plays the thief protagonist of the first film of the series, directed by Black Edwards (together with Peter Seller, Capucine and Claudia Cardinale), but of a diamond. Rosa, in fact, which belongs to the Indian princess Dala, (Claudia Cardinale) who as a child received the largest diamond in the world as a gift from her father, the Pink Panther, so called due to a defect: looking at the bottom of the stone you can see a tiny pink spot that resembles a panther in the act of taking a leap. A stone that tempts the jewel thief, the English playboy Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven).
3 Sex and the City II (2010).Sequel film directed by Michael Patrick King and which has not received great praise from critics (that’s an understatement). The jewels worn by Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda are by two Italian designers, Amedeo Scognamiglio and Roberto Faraone Mennella. The two designers (in the meantime Faraone Mennella passed away years ago) prepared about fifty large, visible jewels for the film. Despite not-so-positive reviews, the film grossed around $ 300 million.
4 Blood Diamond (2006). Directed by Edward Zwick, the film received five Oscar nominations, including Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor and Djimon Hounsou for Best Supporting Actor. The title refers to blood diamonds, so called because they were mined in war zones and sold to finance conflicts, enriching local warlords and diamond companies around the world. The other side of jewelry: the film has pushed the great Maison, and not only, to certify the ethical origin of the stones used. And then there are those who say that culture is not needed …
5 Suspicion (1941). A classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring Joan Fontaine and Cary Grant. In one memorable scene, Joan Fontaine wears a brooch in gold, diamonds and pink topaz by Verdura. Fulco di Verdura, an Italian noble with a passion for jewelry, created the brooch in 1939, in New York. The jewel is inspired by the Roman god Mercury and a brooch he made when working for Coco Chanel. Two pear-shaped pink topazes weighing approximately 35.52 carats with beautifully engraved gold wings highlighted by diamonds suggest the winged feet of Mercury. Too bad the film is in black and white.
6 Romancing the Stone (1984). Portrayed by Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Guess which stone the title of the film alludes to, given that the film takes place in Colombia? It’s a story of jungle adventures, with the good guys being chased and threatened by the bad guys. But in the end the two protagonists find “el corazon” behind a waterfall, hidden inside a statuette: it is an extraordinary emerald.
7 Topkapi (1964). The aristocratic and sensual adventurer Elizabeth Lipp and the prosaic and calculating professional thief Walter Harper plan the theft of Sultan Mehmet I’s dagger from the treasury of Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace, where wonderful jewels are kept. But what interests Elizabeth (Melina Mercouri) most is the Topkapi Dagger, a curved dagger studded with three large Colombian emeralds and decorated with lots of small diamonds.
8 Ocean’s 8 (2018). The plot of the film sees Debbie Ocean / Sandra Bullock (the sister of Danny Ocean, played in the first film by George Clooney) reunites a gang of women composed of Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling and Helena Bonham Carter to make the theft of the century: the legendary Toussaint necklace, which must be worn by the actress (in the film) Daphne Kluger, character played by Anne Hathaway. The heist takes place during the annual Met Gala, when actresses and celebrities walk the red carpet in mind-boggling jewelry. In short, it is almost a partnership, given that Cartier has created a set for the heist of the film.
9 Live a little, steal a lot (Murph the Surf) (1975). It is a 1975 film based on a jewelry burglary involving surfer Jack Roland Murphy, who had the nickname “Murph the Surf”. With Robert Conrad and Don Stroud, it was directed by Marvin J. Chomsky. The October 20, 2019 New York Times edition revisited the true story of Jack Murphy’s theft of irreplaceable gemstones from a sparsely guarded Natural History Museum.
10 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). It is a 1953 American musical comedy directed by Howard Hawks and starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe, with Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid, Tommy Noonan, George Winslow, Taylor Holmes and Norma Varden in supporting roles. The two protagonists are forced to find work as a showgirl in Paris, in a magazine. The famous song Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend explains why and how women chase men with money. Meanwhile, a tiara has disappeared and Marilyn is accused of theft, but …
