Raffles (1930)

Raffles - 1930

Our next film is 1930's "Raffles", starring Ronald Colman.  The film follows a famous cricket player who has a secret life as a thief.  When he tries to extricate himself from his thieving ways, events force him to engineer a final heist which could be his downfall.

The film's supporting cast includes Kay Francis, David Torrence, Frederick Kerr, Bramwell Fletcher, Wilson Benge, Alison Skipworth, and Frances Dade.

All of London is abuzz with the antics of "The Amateur Cracksman", a thief whom no policeman can catch.  He strikes again and again with no one being able to bring him to justice.

In fact, he robs a jewelry store that very night.  He takes a single bracelet and puts the rest back in the safe.

After he the robbery, "the Amateur Cracksman" heads straight to the ballroom and his lady love, Gwen.  The "Cracksman" is famous cricket player A.J. Raffles, whom everybody likes and admires.  He presents his stolen bracelet to Gwen, who is delighted with her present.

Raffles proposes to Gwen that evening and finds himself wanting to distance himself from his life of crime.

He decides to give up life as the "Amateur Cracksman", burning his records and telling his butler that he is going to be a new man from now on.

When his butler tells him that a friend his waiting for him, Raffles goes to see who it is.  It's his friend Bunny.  Unfortunately, Bunny has turned on the gas in the guest bedroom in a suicide attempt.  After reviving him, Raffles finds out that Bunny has thousand pound gambling debt with no way to pay it.

Raffles decides to do one more job to help Bunny.  He sees a picture of Lady Melrose in a newspaper wearing a famous necklace which had belonged to Empress Josephine.  He figures that it will be the perfect thing to help Bunny.  In fact, Bunny is due to be a guest at the Melrose's house party that weekend.  He gets Bunny to invite him as his plus one.

Once at the Melrose estate, Raffles delights the guests during a cricket match.  The entire crowd cheers him on.

Also watching the cricket is Lady Melrose, who has come to the field with her two pug dogs, Whiskey and Soda.  After the match, she meets Raffles for the first time and is very charmed by him.  He escorts her to her car.

At the local pub, a gang of thieves also plans to steal Lady Melrose's necklace.  Their plot is discovered by a police inspector.

The evening at the Melrose house goes off without a hitch.  Lady Melrose is still charmed by Raffles and wants him by her side constantly.

The police inspector shows up at the house and informs Lord Melrose of the plot to steal his wife's necklace.  He volunteers to stay the night and have his men surround the house for added protection.  Raffles knows this will put a wrench in his plans.

Lady Melrose finds the presence of the police in her house quite disconcerting.  After drinking some brandy, she has Raffles escort her to her bedroom.  "I’ve not the slightest objection to you young things being murdered.  I have the greatest objection to it, myself," she says almost hysterically.

Raffles sets her mind at ease.  He tells her to keep her necklace near her instead of putting it in the safe, which is the first place a thief will look.  She thanks him for his concern and bids him goodnight.

When he goes downstairs, Raffles bumps into Gwen, who has just arrived.  They are overjoyed to see one another.

Before turning in for the night, the Inspector and Raffles have a talk about the "Amateur Cracksman", which raises a few questions for the Inspector.

The thief from the pub succeeds in stealing the necklace, but he is caught by Raffles and forced to hand it over.  Raffles puts it in his pocket.

When the thief trips the house's alarm, the Inspector and his men catch him.  With the lights now on, the thief recognizes Raffles as the one who stole the necklace from him, but doesn't say anything.  The Inspector takes the thief to jail.

Lady Melrose wakes the next morning to find her necklace gone.  "I want somebody arrested!" she demands as Gwen tries to comfort her.

Based on some of his behavior from the previous evening, the Inspector and Gwen both now suspect that Raffles is the real thief.  The Inspector plans on releasing the thief in prison to follow Raffles and incriminate him.  Raffles has decided to leave for London.  Gwen overhears the Inspector's plans and hurries to tell Raffles, but she just misses him.

She hurries to London to warn him.  He's surprised to see her.

He admits that what he truly is.  Gwen doesn't care.  She loves him.  "I don’t care what you are.  I don’t care what you’ve been.  I love you," she tells him.  Raffles and Gwen plan to leave England separately and meet in Paris.

The Inspector comes to Raffle's flat and tells him that the thief has been spotted in the vicinity.  Raffles tells the Inspector to wait in his flat until he's caught.  The Inspector takes the opportunity to search the place for the necklace.

Raffles finds the thief himself.  He tells him that it's too dangerous for him to take the necklace now that the Inspector and a whole police force is watching the building.  Raffles helps the thief escape.

He later confesses to being the "Amateur Cracksman".  He tells Bunny were to find the necklace and hand it over to Lord Melrose (who has offered a reward that is just the amount Bunny needs).  The Inspector is shocked at the hiding spot of the necklace (the tobacco jar).  "Well, I'll be..." exclaims the Inspector.  "Yes, I thought you would be," says Raffles with a smile.

With the Inspector and his policeman otherwise occupied, Raffles bids farewell to Gwen with a kiss and the two promise to meet each other in Paris.  He hurries into the fog and disappears.

The Inspector and his men give chase, but realize they can't find him.  Raffles even uses the Inspector's overcoat and disguises a sign as himself.  The Inspector smiles with his men when they realize just how good at his job Raffles is.

Cast rundown:

   Ronald Colman.............................A.J. Raffles

   Kay Francis..................................Gwen

   David Torrence.............................Inspector McKenzie

   Frederick Kerr...............................Lord Harry Melrose

   Bramwell Fletcher..........................Bunny

   Wilson Benge................................Barraclough

   Alison Skipworth...........................Lady Kitty Melrose

   Frances Dade................................Lady Ethel Crowley

And that's all for Raffles.  The character of A.J. Raffles was first written in book form by the brother-in-law of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, E.W. Hornung.  Raffles is supposed to be a "gentleman thief".  The first book came out in 1899 as a series of short stories.  Three more books in short story form were published.  A fourth book was a full-length novel and was published in 1909.  This film was later remade as "Raffles" in 1939, and it starred David Niven as the title character.

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