Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman

1917 CrimeMystery 70 minutes Directed by George Irving

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About Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman

Cricketer A. J. Raffles steals for the game of it. On a steamship he takes a rose pearl from a swindler, hides it in a revolver cartridge, swallows the cartridges, and jumps overboard. In London, Mrs. Vidal falls for him and threatens to expose him. After a diamond necklace vanishes at Lady Melrose's, amateur detective George Bedford bets Raffles that he can catch the thief. Raffles keeps the necklace, wins the bet, sends Bedford's £150 on to Bunny, and slips the arrest by getting out through a grandfather clock.

Cast & crew

More about Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman

George Irving directed. Anthony P. Kelly wrote the scenario from E. W. Hornung's 1899 novel The Amateur Cracksman and the 1906 play by Hornung and Eugene Wiley Presbrey. L. Lawrence Weber produced it. Harry B. Harris photographed it. Hyclass copyrighted it on October 24, 1917. Hiller & Wilk released the seven-reel film on a states-rights basis in December 1917. Some scenes were shot at the Staten Island Cricket Club.

Themes

  • theft as a sport
  • a bet with the detective
  • a cricket gentleman in London
  • Raffles
  • jewel theft
  • Bunny Manders
  • cricket
  • grandfather clock

Making

Weber's company made the picture for states-rights distribution, so local exchanges, not a single national office, booked the prints.

Look

Harry B. Harris photographed the film, including the cricket-club scenes on Staten Island.

Music

Silent, with English intertitles.

Preservation

Prints survive, including shots the Chicago censors had ordered cut from local copies.

Notes

  • John Barrymore plays Raffles. Frank Morgan plays Bunny Manders. Evelyn Brent plays Gwendolyn. Christine Mayo plays Mrs. Vidal. Mike Donlin plays Crawshay.
  • The Chicago Board of Censors ordered cuts of the pearl theft, the maid taking the necklace, close-ups of a bitten hand, and intertitles about robbing the rich.
  • A photograph in Daniel Blum's Pictorial History of the Silent Screen shows Raffles escaping through a grandfather clock that covers a doorway. The AFI Catalog describes the same exit.
  • IMDb lists a United States release of December 15, 1917.

Scenes

  • Raffles hides the rose pearl in a cartridge, swallows the cartridges, and goes over the side of the ship.
  • He leaves his rooms through a grandfather clock while Captain Bedford is there to arrest him.

Influenced by

  • The Amateur Cracksman (E. W. Hornung)

Also available

  • Internet Archive (raffles-the-amateur-cracksman-1917)

Quotes

I've never stolen a farthing for personal gain. I've robbed the rich to give to the poor.

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