Ella Raines in Enter Arsene Lupin

In 1944, Ella Raines co-starred with a newcomer to the movies named Charles Korvin in Enter Arsene Lupin. Literary character Arsene Lupin had made it to the silver screen several times, most successfully perhaps in 1932 with MGM's Arsène Lupin starring the Barrymore brothers. Melvyn Douglas took on the role in 1938, also for MGM, but in 1944 Universal decided to bring the character back with Enter Arsene Lupin.

Check out some press for Enter Arsene Lupin here.

Ella Raines is simply stunning in Enter Arsene Lupin. Her charm is palpable and her beauty radiant. It's no wonder she was such an in-demand actress at the time (she had five films released in 1944 alone). Ella Raines had great chemistry with her leading man in the movie, Charles Korvin and she lets her expressive eyes rule the show. The actress is also favored with a series of wonderful close-ups throughout Enter Arsene Lupin (which only runs 70 minutes) and she is perhaps the most memorable part of the film.

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A pair of promotional photos of Ella Raines and Charles Korvin:

Here are some images of Ella Raines in Enter Arsene Lupin:

Ella Raines handles a gun

Press for Enter Arsene Lupin

Ella Raines was quite busy in 1944, having five films released that year. One of those movies was Enter Arsene Lupin. The literary character of Arsene Lupin had been popular onscreen for years and two films in the 1930s with the character had been quite successful. In 1944, Universal Pictures attempted to bring Arsene Lupin back to the silver screen with Enter Arsene Lupin. The results were decidedly mixed. The film quite obviously was not given an very big budget and the then unknown Charles Korvin in the lead role (the actor would find more success on the small screen rather than as a feature film star). On the other hand, Enter Arsene Lupin is terrific fun and features the presence of the beautiful Ella Raines, whose career was quite hot at the time. All in all, a good movie that is not very well remembered today. The film did get a bit of attention in the newspapers at the time of it's release and the following is a small collection of press artifacts concerning Ella Raines and Enter Arsene Lupin.

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Here's a pair of original advertisements for Enter Arsene Lupin:

Here are some promotional images of Ella Raines and her leading man, Charles Korvin:

A quick, positive review of the film:

And, of course, what's a movie without a little gossip from the set:

You may have noticed the author of the above article erroneously refers to Charles Korvin as George Korvin! At least he got Ella Raines' name right....