Loan sharks Crone and Jaffin discuss their plans for a diamond that Jerry Cummings left as collateral for a loan. Jaffin reveals that he has made arrangements to ensure that Cummings will not return in time to redeem the gem. While they talk, Jerry’s daughter, Betsy, who is working for Jaffin under an assumed name, steals the diamond. When they discover the theft, Jaffin and Crone summon the police and chase Betsy. She takes refuge in a room belonging to artist Jimmy Baxter. Without knowing what she has done, Jimmy suggests that she pretend to be the mannequin that he has been painting. After the police leave, however, Jimmy’s landlady, Mrs. Flint, discovers the ruse, and Jimmy and Betsy are forced to escape out the back of the building. Betsy tells her story to Jimmy and adds that she hid the diamond in the dummy in his room. After dark, the two conspirators sneak back into Jimmy’s room only to find that the landlady has sold all of Jimmy’s belongings to a second-hand dealer. Crone and Jaffin are waiting outside Jimmy’s apartment and overhear him give a cab driver the dealer’s address. At the second-hand store, Jimmy and Betsy offer to buy the dummy from the owner, but he is reluctant to sell it. While they debate, Crone and Jaffin arrive and vandalize the shop before stealing the dummy. Betsy, however, already has the diamond, and she and Jimmy escape during the confusion and hide in her father’s house. Meanwhile, Cummings has evaded Jaffin’s ambush and is on the way home. Crone finally realizes Betsy’s real identity, and he and Jaffin follow the pair to the Cummings’ house, determined to retrieve the diamond. Jimmy and Betsy finally turn themselves in to the police. Just as Betsy is about to be tried for theft, Cummings appears and gives Crone a certified check for the diamond. Now that everything is cleared up, Jimmy and Betsy get married. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch Amateur Crook / The film is also known as Crooked But Dumb (in the United Kingdom) and Jewel Thief (American TV title) (1937)
