Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman
A.J. Raffles, an educated and handsome cricket champ with entry to the best social circles steals precious trinkets and jewels, purely for the love of the game and the thrill of the chase, outwitting police and detectives.
From the archive
I've been researching newly public domain films from 1929 and earlier, along with other pictures of the era that I find interesting, so I'm uploading the best possible copies that I can find. This was the first film adaptation of the gentleman thief, though certainly not the last. This is also the earliest film starring John Barrymore that is not lost at this time. Contemporary reviews do not seem to have survived, although records exist showing that the film was censored in parts of the country. Modern reviews find it a charming but ordinary crime drama.
Why this is free to watch
Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1917) is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. The uploader declared an explicit licence, linked in the source panel. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Internet Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- George Irving
- Starring
- John Barrymore, Evelyn Brent, Frank Morgan, Christine Mayo, H. Cooper Cliffe, Dudley Hill, Kathryn Adams, Mathilde Brundage
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