By Richard Harland Smith
Arsene Lupin
Cast & Crew
Read More
Paul Scardon
Director
Earle Williams
Arsene Lupin
Brinsley Shaw
Guerchard
Henry Leone
Guernay-Martin
Bernard Siegel
Charolais
Gordon Gray
Anastase
Film Details
Release Date
Mar
12,
1917
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Vitagraph Co. of America
Distribution Company
Greater Vitagraph (V-L-S-E, Inc.)
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Arsene Lupin by Francis de Croisset (pseud. of Francis Wiener), Maurice Leblanc (Paris, 28 Oct 1908).
Technical Specs
Sound
Silent
Color
Black and White
Film Length
5 reels
Synopsis
Arsene Lupin, a gentleman thief, matches wits with the Paris police. Posing as the Duke of Charmerace, Lupin assumes title to the duke's estates and then sets about stealing rare works of art and jewels belonging to Monsieur Guernay-Martin. As the first step in his plan, he becomes engaged to Germaine, Guernay-Martin's daughter. When his art works begin to disappear, Guernay-Martin asks Guerchard, the shrewdest detective in Paris, to investigate the robberies. As Guerchard closes in on Lupin, the crook falls in love with Sonia Kritchoff, Germaine's secretary. Aided by his loyal assistant Victoire, Lupin escapes with Sonia, whom he discovers is a fellow crook. Guerchard trails them to Lupin's apartment where the couple evade the detective by locking him in a concealed elevator and then driving off in his automobile. Relieved, Sonia and Lupin decide to marry and retire from criminal life.
Director
Paul Scardon
Director
Cast
Earle Williams
Arsene Lupin
Brinsley Shaw
Guerchard
Henry Leone
Guernay-Martin
Bernard Siegel
Charolais
Gordon Gray
Anastase
Logan Paul
Firmin
Hugh Wynn
Alfred
Ethel Grey Terry
Sonia
Billie Billings
Germaine
Julia Swayne Gordon
Victoire
Frank Crayne
Film Details
Release Date
Mar
12,
1917
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Vitagraph Co. of America
Distribution Company
Greater Vitagraph (V-L-S-E, Inc.)
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the play Arsene Lupin by Francis de Croisset (pseud. of Francis Wiener), Maurice Leblanc (Paris, 28 Oct 1908).
Technical Specs
Sound
Silent
Color
Black and White
Film Length
5 reels
Articles
Arsene Lupin
The character of Arsène Lupin, "gentleman burglar," first appeared in the novels of French writer Maurice Leblanc, who spun the character off as the hero of a popular stage play coauthored with Francis de Croisset (aka Francis Wiener). A debonair jewel thief ever one step ahead of the Sûreté, Lupin seemed bespoke for the burgeoning medium of film and adaptations of the Leblanc novels were brought before the cameras in the United Kingdom in 1916, in Hungary in 1921, in Japan in 1923, and in the United States in 1917, 1919, and 1920. With the advent of sound came greater opportunities to maximize the charm of the character (a dapper forerunner of such chic sneaks as David Niven in Raffles and Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief), prompting Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to mount Arsène Lupin (1932) as a vehicle for John Barrymore. The Great Profile had in effect warmed up for the assignment by playing Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman in 1917. Cast in the supporting role of long-suffering Paris cop Guerchard was the star's brother, Lionel Barrymore, with whom he would appear again in Grand Hotel (1932), Rasputin and the Empress (1932) - also starring sister Ethel Barrymore - and Dinner at Eight (1933). In 1938, Metro brought the character back - albeit reformed - for a belated follow-up, Arsène Lupin Returns, with Melvyn Douglas playing a retired Lupin who must evading police prefect George Zucco while helping FBI agent Warren William retrieve a stolen emerald necklace.
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
Arsene Lupin
The character of Arsène Lupin, "gentleman burglar," first appeared in the novels of French writer Maurice Leblanc, who spun the character off as the hero of a popular stage play coauthored with Francis de Croisset (aka Francis Wiener). A debonair jewel thief ever one step ahead of the Sûreté, Lupin seemed bespoke for the burgeoning medium of film and adaptations of the Leblanc novels were brought before the cameras in the United Kingdom in 1916, in Hungary in 1921, in Japan in 1923, and in the United States in 1917, 1919, and 1920. With the advent of sound came greater opportunities to maximize the charm of the character (a dapper forerunner of such chic sneaks as David Niven in Raffles and Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief), prompting Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to mount Arsène Lupin (1932) as a vehicle for John Barrymore. The Great Profile had in effect warmed up for the assignment by playing Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman in 1917. Cast in the supporting role of long-suffering Paris cop Guerchard was the star's brother, Lionel Barrymore, with whom he would appear again in Grand Hotel (1932), Rasputin and the Empress (1932) - also starring sister Ethel Barrymore - and Dinner at Eight (1933). In 1938, Metro brought the character back - albeit reformed - for a belated follow-up, Arsène Lupin Returns, with Melvyn Douglas playing a retired Lupin who must evading police prefect George Zucco while helping FBI agent Warren William retrieve a stolen emerald necklace.
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The play was based on the book Arsene Lupin by Maurice Leblanc, first published in Paris in 1907. Paul Potter wrote an American version of the play which May have been related more directly to the book than the French play. Variety on March 10, 1917, p. 29, gives a description of the legal case concerning Potter's claim to copyright of the original play. The film opened in New York on February 4, 1917. It was originally to be released nationally on February 26, 1917, but was held back until March 12, 1917. Among the many other films based on the play, Leblanc's books, or the Arsene Lupin character are: the 1916 British film Arsene Lupin, directed by George Loane Tucker; the 1919 Famous Players-Lasky film The Teeth of the Tiger (see below); the 1920 Robertson-Cole film 813 (see below); the 1921 Hungarian film Arsene Lupin Utolso Kalandja, directed by Paul Fejos; the 1923 Japanese film 813, directed by Kenji Mizoguchi; the 1932 M-G-M production Arsene Lupin, starring John and Lionel Barrymore and directed by Jack Conway; the 1938 M-G-M film Arsene Lupin Returns, starring Melvyn Douglas and directed by George Fitzmaurice; and the 1957 French film Les Aventures d'Arsene Lupin, directed by Jacques Becker.
