Raffles (1939) - film review

The best brains at Scotland Yard are perplexed by the latest spate of robberies to be visited on London.  No one would suspect that the culprit is A.J. Raffles, a renowned cricketer and debonair man about town with an unblemished reputation.  But when Raffles falls in love with socialite Gwen, he decides to renounce his career of crime and earn his keep by more honest means.  This resolution proves to be short-lived, since Raffles’ best friend, Bunny Manders, is urgently in need of a thousand pounds to pay off a gambling debt.  Raffles realises he can obtain this money by stealing the priceless jewelled necklace of Lady Melrose.  An opportunity to do just that presents himself when he is invited to the country home of Lord and Lady Melrose.  What Raffles does not know is that Inspector McKenzie of the Yard has also decided to pay the Melroses a visit, with the intention of laying a trap to catch the jewel thief...

Closely based on Eugene Presbrey’s popular stage play adaptation of E.W. Hornung’s novel of 1899, Samuel Goldwyn’s second production of Raffles is virtually a scene-for-scene remake of his first, the 1930 version which helped to establish Ronald Colman as a major Hollywood star.  Although the film was a commercial success, it was not well received by the critics.  In spite of an attractive cast, which offers the dream pairing of David Niven with Olivia de Havilland, the film is let down by its uninspired direction, lacklustre script and an all too abrupt ending, failings that bear witness to its troubled production.

Raffles marked a defining moment in David Niven’s career.  Having been employed for five years as a contract player at Goldwyn Studios, the actor had become frustrated with the parts he had been given, most frequently as a loan out to other studios.  Goldwyn saw that Niven had potential and so hoped to lure him into signing a seven year contract with this film, with a role which he knew would appeal to the young English actor.  Niven, the epitome of Englishness, was perfect for the part of the suave gentleman thief and had no qualms about swallowing Goldwyn’s bait.  Raffles is where Niven’s career began proper, the actor establishing his inimitable screen persona in a part that could well have been written for him.

The film was directed, with an evident lack of enthusiasm, by Sam Wood, who was physically and artistically drained after working on Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939).  Wood’s difficulties were compounded when the Germans thoughtlessly invaded Poland in September 1939, just after the film had gone into production.  The on-set anxieties were exacerbated by Niven’s growing unease at being cooped up in Hollywood when his real duty lay elsewhere, serving in the armed services of his own country, which had just declared war on Nazi Germany.  

With his entire cast and production team visibly on edge, Goldwyn became concerned that the film was going to fall flat and so roped in other writers to pep up the script.  The eminent author F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the beneficiaries of Goldwyn’s desperation, pocketing $1,200 for a week’s work and no screen credit.  (This is the same Sam Goldwyn who was known to carefully decant undrunk wine back into the bottle after dinner parties.)  When the film proved to be a hit, Goldwyn was unable to capitalise on the success of his new protégé immediately, since Niven was already on his way back to England to serve in the RAF.  The war would provide only a temporary break in Niven’s career, however....

© Steve Chandler 2010

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