Raffles (1939)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Sam Wood

Writers:

E.W. Hornung (novel)
John Van Druten (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 December 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama | History | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Man about town and First Class cricketer A.J. Raffles keeps himself solvent with daring robberies. Meeting...

Plot Keywords:

Necklace | Love | Scotland Yard | Thief | Rehabilitation

Cast

David Niven	...	A.J. Raffles
Olivia de Havilland	...	Gwen Manders
Dame May Whitty	...	Lady Kitty Melrose
Dudley Digges	...	Inspector MacKenzie
Douglas Walton	...	Bunny Manders
E.E. Clive	...	Barraclough - Raffles' Butler
Lionel Pape	...	Lord George Melrose
Peter Godfrey	...	Harry Crawshay
Margaret Seddon	...	Maud Holden
Hilda Plowright	...	Wilson - Lady Melrose's Maid
Gilbert Emery	...	Bingham
Keith Hitchcock	...	Detective Merton
Vesey O'Davoren	...	Lord Melrose's Butler
George Cathrey	...	Melrose's Footman

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #5723) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Howard Productions

Trivia:

Sidney Howard died before production began, and he may not have been involved in the preproduction planning. His 1930 screenplay was the basis of this screenplay and he is credited onscreen with John Van Druten for "screenplay."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pulp Fiction Art: Cheap Thrills & Painted Nightmares (2005)

Soundtrack:

Fantaisie-Impromptu in C Sharp Minor, Op.66

short, light entertainment

"Raffles" seems like it was a quickie - it doesn't last very long and it has an abrupt ending. Nevertheless, "Raffles" features two dazzling stars - David Niven, well-cast as an upper class thief, and Olivia de Havilland as the beautiful object of his affections.

One interesting thing about this film - which made me realize that I had seen it years before - is the early television in the inspector's office at the beginning of the movie.

I regret not seeing the Ronald Colman version. In this one, Niven is charming, handsome, and debonair as a man who seems to steal as a lark and then somehow returns the merchandise, to the frustration of the police. At the film's start, he steals a valuable painting, sends it to his favorite retired actress, and has her return it for the reward money. But when he tries to steal a necklace to help a friend replace money he gambled away before an audit takes place, he runs into another crook attempting to do the same thing, and complications arise.

There are some suspenseful moments toward the end of the movie, but all in all, it goes by too quickly, and the character of Raffles isn't sufficiently developed. It's almost as if the movie starts in the middle and ends before it's really over. De Havilland is absolutely beautiful, even if a couple of her hats are outrageous. She's really just doing an average ingénue role here. "Raffles" debuted in the U.S. just before "Gone With the Wind," and she probably made it right afterward.

Entertaining but disappointing.