A jewel thief brandishing a gun entered an exclusive hotel along the French Riviera on Sunday morning, eluded security guards and well-heeled guests, and left with a glittering haul worth perhaps $50 million, according to the regional state prosecutor’s office.

The theft occurred at the Carlton InterContinental Hotel along the Promenade de la Croisette in Cannes, a Mediterranean playground for the word’s rich and famous.

It comes just days after the Swiss police announced that a member of the Pink Panther gang of jewel thieves had escaped from a prison in Switzerland. The gang, which has ties to the Balkans, is said to have hit hundreds of high-end boutiques all over the globe, making off with hundreds of millions of dollars in jewelry.

The theft had all the hallmarks of a Hollywood movie, including the set, the Carlton, where Alfred Hitchcock filmed “To Catch a Thief,” the 1955 movie about a jewel thief prowling the French Riviera, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Reached by telephone, hotel officials would not comment.