Raffles (1930)

"Bunny" (wasn't that Nigel Bruce's Hollywood nickname?) is a bit hopeless with money so when he confides in his best pal "Raffles" (Ronald Colman) that he's £1,000 in the hole and only has twenty four hours before he's toast, well his friend isn't terribly surprised. Vowing to help his pal (Bramwell Fletcher) out, he adopts his alter ego character of a notorious cat burglar and goes to work at the stately pile of "Lord Melrose" (Frederic Kerr) where his cricketing prowess has earned him an invitation for the weekend. This is a bit of an extra inconvenience because "Raffles" had sworn off the thieving malarkey, instead electing to follow his heart with "Gwen" (Kay Francis). All the while, Scotland Yard's finest "Insp. McKenzie" (David Torrence) has got wind that the famed "amateur cracksman" is in the area so arrives to forewarn the house party. "Lady Melrose" (Alison Skipworth) happens to have a priceless necklace - well she has it at the start of dinner, but what chance she will still have it in the morning? The production is all pretty basic and at times fairly stagey, but there are plenty of red herrings to confuse us (and them) and Colman exudes an engaging charm as he sets about saving his friend from ignominy whilst relieving his brandy-loving hostess of her baubles. On that front, both Skipworth and Kerr work well as the doddering old aristocrats, Torrence also contributes well as a policeman a little more shrewd than we might be used to in films like this, and there's a degree of chemistry between the star and the occassionally rather hammy Francis who really does look like she's struggling to make her presence felt but does love some drama, dahling! I enjoyed this.