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Raffles (1930 Film)
''Raffles'' is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy-mystery film produced by Samuel Goldwyn. It stars Ronald Colman as the title character, a proper English gentleman who moonlights as a notorious jewel thief, and Kay Francis as his love interest. It is based on the play ''Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman'' (1906) by E. W. Hornung and Eugene Wiley Presbrey, which was in turn adapted from the 1899 short story collection of the same name by Hornung. Oscar Lagerstrom was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Recording. The story had been filmed previously as '' Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman'' (1917) with John Barrymore as Raffles, and again as '' Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman'' (1925) by Universal Studios. A 1939 Goldwyn produced version, again titled just ''Raffles'', starred David Niven in the title role. Plot Famed cricketer A.J. Raffles by day is the notorious gentleman jewel thief the "Amateur Cracksman" at night. After falling in love with lovely aristocratic Gw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Fitzmaurice
George Fitzmaurice (13 February 1885 – 13 June 1940) was a French-born film director and Film producer, producer. Career Fitzmaurice's career first started as a set designer on stage. Beginning in 1914, and continuing until his death in 1940, he directed a total of over 80 films; several of these were successful, including ''The Son of the Sheik'', ''Raffles (1930 film), Raffles'', ''Mata Hari (1931 film), Mata Hari'', and ''Suzy (1936 film), Suzy''. At the beginning of his directorial career, Fitzmaurice was astute at directing stage actresses in their initial films with the first wave of great Broadway stars that migrated to motion pictures during the World War I era, including Mae Murray, Elsie Ferguson, Fannie Ward, Helene Chadwick, Irene Fenwick, Gail Kane, and Edna Goodrich. Fitzmaurice's long-time cinematographer, Arthur Miller (cinematographer) , Arthur Miller observed: “Fitzmaurice's specialty was in designing a film beautifully, and in handling women stars with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Barrymore
John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly attempted a career as an artist, but appeared on stage together with his father Maurice in 1900, and then his sister Ethel the following year. He began his career in 1903 and first gained attention as a stage actor in light comedy, then high drama, culminating in productions of ''Justice'' (1916), ''Richard III'' (1920), and ''Hamlet'' (1922); his portrayal of Hamlet led to him being called the "greatest living American tragedian". After a success as ''Hamlet'' in London in 1925, Barrymore left the stage for 14 years and instead focused entirely on films. In the silent film era, he was well received in such pictures as ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1920), ''Sherlock Holmes'' (1922) and '' The Sea Beast'' (1926). During this period, he gain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilson Benge
George Frederick "Wilson" Benge (1 March 1875 – 1 July 1955) was an English actor who mostly featured in American films from the silent days. He appeared in over 200 films between 1922 and 1955. Along with actors Charles Coleman and Robert Greig, Benge was heavily typecast as butler or valet and was one of Hollywood's most familiar manservants in the 1930s and 1940s. He also appeared in several Laurel and Hardy comedies. He worked in films until his death. Selected filmography * ''Robin Hood'' (1922) * '' Alias Mary Flynn'' (1925) * '' Without Mercy'' (1925) * '' The Road to Yesterday'' (1925) * '' A Trip to Chinatown'' (1926) * '' The Clinging Vine'' (1926) * '' The Midnight Message'' (1926) * '' Fast and Furious'' (1927) * '' Do Detectives Think?'' (1927) * '' The Lone Eagle'' (1927) * '' The Battle of the Century'' (1927) * '' Alias the Deacon'' (1928) * '' That's My Daddy'' (1928) * '' You're Darn Tootin''' (1928) * '' A Gentleman Preferred'' (1928) * ''The Rush H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Rogers (actor)
John Edward Rogers (28 August 1888 – 31 July 1963) was a British stage and film actor active in American cinema. He was the son of English playwright Charles Rogers and brother of actors Charles and Gerald Rogers. A character actor, he played a number of supporting roles in the 1930s. These grew increasingly smaller during the 1940s where he was often uncredited. His final handful of appearances were in television during the 1950s. He was often cast in London-set productions, including '' Raffles'' and '' Charlie Chan in London''. Rogers penned an unpublished autobiography which was used as source material for biographical research into his father. He committed suicide in 1963. Selected filmography Film * '' Behind That Curtain'' (1929) * '' The Sea Wolf'' (1930) * '' Raffles'' (1930) * ''Old English'' (1930) * '' Charlie Chan Carries On'' (1931) * ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1931) * '' Limehouse Blues'' (1934) * '' Charlie Chan in London'' (1934) * '' Grand Canary'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick Kerr
Frederick Kerr (born Frederick Grinham Keen, 11 October 1858 – 3 May 1933) was an English actor who appeared on stage in both London and New York and in British and American films; he also worked as a major theatrical manager in London. Early life Frederick Kerr was born Frederick Grinham Keen on 11 October 1858 in London, the elder son of Grinham Keen, a solicitor. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Caius College, Cambridge. After graduating from Cambridge in 1880, he enrolled at the Inner Temple with the intention of becoming a barrister, but left shortly afterwards to pursue a career as an actor.http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2017c.pl?sur=Keen&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=&sye=1877&eye=1880&col=all&maxcount=50 "FRED—THE KERRS—GEOFFREY" New York Times Drama/Music/Fashion/Screen, 7 November 1920, page 88 (available online at thNew York Times archive/ref> Theatre career He went to New York City in 1880 and worked as a sketch arti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alison Skipworth
Alison Skipworth (born Alison Mary Elliott Margaret Groom; 25 July 18635 July 1952) was an English stage and screen actress. Early years Skipworth was born in London. She was the daughter of Dr. Richard Ebenezer Groom and Elizabeth Rodgers, and she had a private education. Stage Alison Skipworth made her first stage appearance at Daly's Theatre in London in 1894, in '' A Gaiety Girl''. Her first American performance came the following year at the Broadway Theatre in New York City. She sang in light opera in ''An Artist's Model''. In this production she served as understudy to Marie Tempest. After performing in two London plays, Skipworth returned to the United States, and made it her home. She joined the company of Daniel Frohman at the Lyceum. There she made her debut as ''Mrs. Ware'' in '' The Princess and the Butterfly'' in 1897. In 1905 and 1906 Skipworth toured with Viola Allen in three productions of Shakespeare, ''Cymbeline'', ''Twelfth Night'', and ''As You Like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Torrence (actor)
David Torrence (born David Tayson; 17 January 1864 – 26 December 1951) was a Scottish film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1913 to 1939. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was the brother of actor Ernest Torrence. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and died in Los Angeles. Selected filmography * ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1913) - Michael, Duke of Strelsau * ''Tess of the d'Urbervilles'' (1913) - Alec D'Urberville * '' The Inside of the Cup'' (1921) - Eldon Parr * '' Received Payment'' (1922) - Daniel Milton * ''Sherlock Holmes'' (1922) - Count von Stalburg * ''A Virgin's Sacrifice'' (1922) - David Sherrill * '' Tess of the Storm Country'' (1922) - Elias Graves * '' Forsaking All Others'' (1922) - Mr. Morton * '' The Power of a Lie'' (1922) - John Hammond * '' Trimmed in Scarlet'' (1923) - Charles Knight * ''The Abysmal Brute'' (1923) - Mortimer Sangster * '' The Man Next Door'' (1923) - Colonel Wright * '' Railroaded'' (1923) - Judge Garbin * ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frances Dade
Frances Pemberton Dade (February 14, 1907 – January 21, 1968) was an American film and stage actress of the late 1920s and 1930s. Family Dade was born on February 14, 1907, to Frances Rawle Pemberton and Francis Cadwallader Dade Jr. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was grandniece to Confederate General John Clifford Pemberton and first cousin to athlete Hobey Baker. She studied for one year at the School of the Theater in New York. Career Dade acted at the Empire Theater in Toronto in 1928 and 1929, performing in a different play each week. Her other stock theater experience came in Alabama, Michigan, and New York. She did not like performing in touring companies, saying that the experience was "like traveling in a trunk". Dade moved to Hollywood, California in the late 1920s to pursue an acting career. She first caught the attention of Samuel Goldwyn as Lorelei Lee in the touring company of '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes''. He gave her a contract, though she later went free ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bunny Manders
Harry Manders (almost exclusively known as Bunny Manders) is a fictional character in the popular series of Raffles stories by E. W. Hornung. He is the companion of A. J. Raffles, a cricketer and gentleman thief, who makes a living robbing the rich in late Victorian British High Society. Bunny is the narrator in the original Raffles short stories and novel by Hornung, from the first short story " The Ides of March" (1898) to the novel and last story '' Mr. Justice Raffles'' (1909). Inspiration A. J. Raffles was to a certain extent an inverted version of Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes, and Bunny, as the companion and biographer of Raffles, was similarly inspired by Dr. Watson. The fact that Bunny contributed to his public school's magazine may have been inspired by Hornung's own experience, since Hornung's earliest literary work appeared in the magazine of his public school in 1882–83. According to Richard Lancelyn Green, prototypes of Raffles and Bunny appea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bramwell Fletcher
Bramwell Fletcher (20 February 1904 – 22 June 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. Career Fletcher appeared on the stage in 1927 and made his Broadway debut in 1929. Hollywood and sound films soon beckoned. He made his first film in 1928, ''S.O.S''. Fletcher co-starred in Warner Brothers' 1931 film '' Svengali'' with actor John Barrymore, whose daughter Diana would marry Fletcher a decade later. He had a brief but notable appearance in '' The Mummy'' (1932) as the assistant gone mad. In 1943, he abandoned films for the theatre and television. He wrote and acted in the critically successful 1965 play ''The Bernard Shaw Story''. Personal life His first two wives were actresses. He was married to Helen Chandler from 1935 to 1940 and Diana Barrymore from 1942 to 1946. Both marriages ended in divorce. In 1950 he married Susan Robinson and had 3 children: Whit, Kent and Catherine Fletcher. In 1970 he married Lael Tucker Wertenbaker, living with her in N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had its main public entrance on the Westminster street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance, and over time "Scotland Yard" came to be used not only as the common name of the headquarters building, but also as a metonym for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) itself and police officers, especially detectives, who serve in it. ''The New York Times'' wrote in 1964 that, just as Wall Street gave its name to New York's financial district, Scotland Yard became the name for police activity in London. The force moved from Great Scotland Yard in 1890, to a newly completed building on the Victoria Embankment, and the name "New Scotland Yard" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Niven
James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was an English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist. Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. His accolades include an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards in addition to nominations for a BAFTA Award and two Emmy Awards. Born in central London to an upper-middle-class family, Niven attended Heatherdown Preparatory School and Stowe School before gaining a place at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry. Upon developing an interest in acting, he found a role as an extra in the British film ''There Goes the Bride'' (1932). Bored with the peacetime army, he resigned his commission in 1933, relocated to New York, then travelled to Hollywood. There, he hired an agent and had several small parts in films through 1935, including a non-speaking role in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
