Michael Caine and Demi Moore appear in a scene from the motion picture "Flawless." (Gannett News Service / Magnolia Pictures)

"Flawless," directed with a fine eye by Michael Radford, is a diamond-heist thriller that will make you nostalgic for the smart, classy caper films of the past. Set in 1960s London, the details -- the fashions, the actors, the sets -- are impeccable. This is a world once occupied by the suave Cary Grant, David Niven or Gig Young, where diamonds are always a temptation, there for the taking.

Screenwriter Edward A. Anderson makes this premise even more interesting by pairing two unlikely thieves, played by Demi Moore and Michael Caine, with the world's biggest cache of diamonds. And just when you think things are beginning to make sense, they take off in another direction. If you go into this film not expecting much, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Moore finally gets to prove that she is a fine, understated actress who can make a character her own. Moore, clad in impeccably gorgeous business suits perfect for the time (kudos to costume designer Dinah Collin) plays dedicated London Diamond Corp. executive Laura Quinn. An American alumna of Oxford University, she is the first female manager in the history of a prestigious company that supplies diamonds to five continents. Quinn, who has devoted her life to her work, quietly holds in her anger at being passed over six times for a promotion, watching as less-qualified men are congratulated.

The always wonderful Caine could easily play a debonair role similar to those often played by the previously mentioned actors; instead, he is Hobbs, an elderly night janitor who's the brains behind the heist. Ignored by executives and security guards, he has a startling amount of knowledge about the corporation. He homes in on Quinn's predicament, which he uses as leverage to recruit her.

The empathetic Hobbs singles her out, befriending her as she works late into the evening. He senses her frustration and takes a chance that she will join his plot to steal a thermos full of diamonds from the vault. It's enough, he assures her, to set them up for life, but so little the company will never notice.

Quinn is at first incredulous and never seems totally at ease with the proposal -- a queasy nervousness defines her every move. She is stunned when the politics and money behind London Diamond prove to be a complex web of lies and deceit that is uncovered when more than just a handful of gems disappears.

Into this scene walks Detective Finch (a nicely understated Lambert Wilson), an insurance investigator who, despite an instant attraction to Quinn, will stop at nothing to solve the crime. He senses an ulterior motive to the heist, and if you listen carefully and put two and two together, it's easy to figure out. But there are plenty of other surprises.

The film begins and ends in modern-day London, with a nearly 80-year-old Quinn (the makeup is remarkable, and Moore is convincing) meeting with a reporter interested in her story, which unfolds during the film's center portion.

The one gaping hole in the movie involves Quinn herself. Who is she? What drives her? Why did she forsake a husband and family for a career? A little bit of fill-in-the-blank would have made the film even more satisfying. Instead, this woman remains an enigma down to the film's last frame.

Photo provided by Magnolia Pictures

Michael Caine and Demi Moore star as a night janitor and a diamond company executive who become unlikely partners in crime in "Flawless."

- By Mary Houlihan / Universal Press Syndicate