jaycad

i have recently watched the 'raffles' series on dvd and was baffled by the sudden ending on the last episode-can anybody tell me whether this was down to bad editing or is there part of the episode missing? i hope this wasn't how it was meant to end as it was so rushed as it spoils an otherwise great series! also,i read somewhere that there was a pilot episode shown but not included on the dvd boxset-can anybody help??

'QUIS EST ISTE QUI UENIT'

CaptainWaggett

Is this the Anthony Valentine series? How does it end? ( it's a while since I've seen it). The first book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger (Raffles escapes the law by diving off a boat and Bunny is arrested and spends some time in prison before meeting the now in-hiding Raffles in the second book) . I assume they thought they were going to get a second series

Windthrop

It was certainly made very cheaply by todays standards. Stick with Niven and Colman

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

batman

Valentine's version is still better than the 2001 debacle with Nigel Havers.

The Gentleman Thief

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

Windthrop

A waste of John Mills

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

GRAEME

I always confuse Raffles with the Jeremy Thorpe trial for some reason.

Something to do with Bunny?

All men leak.

CaptainWaggett

This would be the Niven version set in a London with televised test matches but where people still use horse-drawn cabs?

The Valentine version is great unless expense is your main criteria for judgng a tv programme Philip Mackie brings out the hint of gay subtext very well though he doesn't get the class aspect quite right (the whole point of the books being that Raffles isn't upper class though he'd like to be!)

Was Bunny the nickname of Norman Scott? Or was it the dog?

Windthrop

Hollywood England has always conflated time periods. There would still have been some horsedrawn cabs in the late 30s

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

CaptainWaggett

The Niven version also has the inevitable romance with a lady and that's so not book-Raffles

Windthrop

We are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. The conventional structures of commercial movie story-telling at the time virtually dictated that the lead actor had a romance

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

CaptainWaggett

Which is why the 1970s version is better because it was able to use the subtexts of the book. Plus, it does manage to get over the fact (though not as clearly as the books) that Raffles isn't a lovable rogue, he's actually completely ruthless and even when he outwits a ruthless moneylender it seems to be more for reasons of anti-Semitism than altruism (though that aspect wasn't used in the series for obvious reasons). Turning him into a sort of Lord Peter Wimsey figure who just happens to like have a knack with window-locks is a bit of a travesty, IMO. I've not seen the Colman version, but the Niven one was really quite dull, partly because it was before he'd learned to act properly.

batman

I think Niven is great as Raffles. He handles the dialogue well and has oodles of charm and charisma. The film itself is well produced and a lot of fun. The Valentine series is OK too, but it does rather stumble it's way through each episode. The Robert Powell Hannay series is much better.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

maturin

Oh dear Bats,

I have to disagree with you, at least provisionally.

I recently bought Hannay and watched episode 1. I thought the plot woolly, the dialogue trite and the whole thing rather dull. Now, I've only seen that one episode - in which i suppose they had to establish character etc etc, but it didn't bode well.
So, I switched to Gideon.

Richard

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

batman

Stick with it Richie, it does get better. It is not the best series ever made but I find it preferable to Raffles, and I really like AV. Mrs Bat doesn't like it though.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

maturin

OK then. Once I get through a dozen discs of Gideon,
I'll try again!
I liked AV in Bunter.

Cheers
R