Raffles **** (1939, David Niven, Olivia de Havilland, Dame May Whitty, Douglas Walton, Dudley Digges) – Classic Movie Review 9,525

David Niven’s debonair charm is just right for E W Hornung’s celebrated England Test cricketer and amateur cracksman A J Raffles, in the tasty and likeable 1939 crime mystery movie Raffles.

David Niven’s debonair charm is just right for E W Hornung’s celebrated England Test cricketer and amateur cracksman A J Raffles, in director Sam Wood’s extremely tasty and likeable, though slightly thin and faded 1939 crime mystery movie Raffles.

The gentleman thief Raffles meets up with his old school chum Bunny Manders (Douglas Walton), who reintroduces him to his socialite sister Gwen Manders (Olivia de Havilland), with whom Raffles was infatuated a decade earlier. And Raffles soon falls in love with her again.

But later, at the country house party of Lord Melrose (Lionel Pape) and Lady Melrose (Dame May Whitty), Raffles steals Lady Melrose’s necklace to help Bunny get out of a bad gambling debt. Is Scotland Yard’s man Inspector Mackenzie (Dudley Digges) clever enough to catch him?

The 1939 Raffles is a close rejig of the 1930 Ronald Colman-starring version of Raffles, with the sequences and dialogue virtually intact, and with the same producer (Samuel Goldwyn) and some of the same backstage personnel, notably cinematographer Gregg Toland.

The screenplay by John Van Druten is based on E W Hornung’s 1899 Raffles short story collection The Amateur Cracksman. Sidney Howard, who was given credit as co-author of the screenplay as the writer of the 1930 version, died four months before the film’s release. It is alleged that F Scott Fitzgerald also worked on the script.

Also in the cast are Douglas Walton, Lionel Pape, E E Clive as Barraclough, Peter Godfrey as Harry Crawshay, Margaret Seddon as Maud Holden, Gilbert Emery as Bingham, Hilda Plowright, Forrester Harvey, Leonard Carey as Bingham’s Secretary (uncredited), James Finlayson as Hansom Cab Driver (uncredited), Gibson Gowland as Villager (uncredited), Leyland Hodgson, Elspeth Dudgeon and Olaf Hytten.

John Barrymore played Raffles in the 1917 silent film Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman, and it was filmed again as the silent Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1925) by Universal Studios.

Raffles is directed by Sam Wood, runs 72 minutes, is made by Samuel Goldwyn Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by John Van Druten and Sidney Howard, based on E W Hornung’s 1899 Raffles short story collection The Amateur Cracksman, is shot in black and white by Gregg Toland, is produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and is scored by Victor Young, with Art Direction by James Basevi.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9,525

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