Raffles
               
Director: George Fitzmaurice
Year:  1930
Rating: 6.0
Raffles is yet another gentleman thief or as the term was for a safebreaker at the time Cracksman - a theme that seemed quite popular at the beginning of the 20th century. But Raffles came before others like The Saint or Arsene Lupin with E.W. Hornung writing his first Raffles story in 1898. He was to write a series of short stories about Raffles and his criminal activity. Interestingly and perhaps not co-incidentally, Hornung was the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes always got his man (if not the woman) while Raffles is never apprehended. As is often the case now, once Hornung died in 1921 another writer took on the Raffles character and wrote a number of books about him. Raffles has been portrayed in film a few times as he has in TV.



This is perhaps the best known Raffles as it stars Ronald Colman (the other well-known one stars David Nivens in a remake of this one) who was certainly a star at the time and continued to be for decades. Though Colman now is recognized for his classy English speaking voice and precise diction, he was a star during the silent era as well. He is very suitable for a gentleman thief with his perfect manners, handsome looks and calm demeanor. In this one he has decided to give up his trade for the love of a beautiful woman (Kay Francis), but he is course pulled back in. Aren't they always. His friend Bunny (who is the narrator of the books) has gotten himself into trouble with a bad check and needs 1,000 pounds by Monday - this being Friday.



A thousand pounds back then was a significant amount of money but it still seems odd that Raffles can't just cover the shortfall but instead decides to rob a diamond necklace from an elderly lady's neck to do so. It doesn't quite work out as planned. Made in 1930 film was still adapting to sound and for the most part it is fairly stage bound but certainly not excessively. It is overall fairly charming with some of that old great high society amusing dialogue and excellent character actors.