Maria Montez made her final screen appearance in the Italian-American co-production Thief of Venice. Montez is cast as Tina, an 8th-century Venetian tavern keeper, caught in the crossfire during the Italian city-state's war with Turkey. Aligning herself with naval officer Alfiere Lorenzo Contarini (Paul Christian), Tina does her best to prevent a Turkish takeover of Venice. First, however, she must neutralize the chief villain, scheming Scarpa the Inquisitor (Massimo Serato). Production values are quite impressive, even though the script (by Hollywood's Jesse Lasky Jr. and England's Michael Pertwee) is nothing special. Maria Montez died in 1951, a full year before the American release of Thief of Venice. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi