The Theft of the Mona Lisa The Theft of the Mona Lisa The Theft of the Mona Lisa (German: Der Raub der Mona Lisa) is a 1931 German drama film directed by Géza von Bolváry and starring Trude von Molo , Willi Forst and Gustaf Gründgens. It is based on a true story. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Andrej Andrejew and Robert A. Dietrich. In 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia is a poverty-stricken Italian glazier who falls in love with Mathilde, a French hotel maid. Struck by the girl's resemblance to Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", Vicenzo manages to steal the painting from the
Louis Lépine Pablo Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning, but both were later exonerated. The real thief was Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia an Italian wishing to return it to Italy. He was caught with the painting two years later when he attempted to sell it to the directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. One of Lépine's last successes was the capture and destruction of the notorious Bonnot Gang (La Bande à Bonnot), an anarchist criminal group that operated in France and Belgium during the Belle Époque, from 1911 to 1912.In 1910 Lépine had instigated La Brigade Criminelle a dedicated