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A. J. Raffles
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Arthur J. Raffles is a character created in the 1890s by E. W. Hornung, brother-in-law to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Raffles is, in many ways, a deliberate inversion of Holmes – he is a "gentleman thief", living at the Albany, a prestigious address in London, playing cricket for the Gentlemen of England and supporting himself by carrying out ingenious burglaries. He is called the "Amateur Cracksman", and often, at first, differentiates between himself and the "professors" – professional criminals from the lower classes.As Holmes has Dr. Watson to chronicle his adventures, Raffles has Harry "Bunny" Manders – a former schoolmate saved from disgrace and suicide by Raffles, whom Raffles persuaded to accompany him on a burglary. While Raffles often takes advantage of Manders' relative innocence, and sometimes treats him with a certain amount of contempt, he knows that Manders' bravery and loyalty are to be relied on utterly. In several stories, Manders saves the day for the two of them after Raffles gets into situations he cannot get out of on his own.
One of the things that Raffles has in common with Holmes is a mastery of disguise – during his days as an ostensible man-about-town, he maintains a studio apartment in another name in which he keeps the components of various disguises. He can imitate the regional speech of many parts of Britain flawlessly, and is fluent in Italian.
Biography
Né en Australie, Raffles apparaît dans la nouvelle Les Ides de Mars en juin 1898 dans le Cassell's Magazine. Il reçoit la visite d'un ancien disciple de collège, Bunny, qui s'est totalement ruiné et songe au suicide. Raffles organise pour lui un cambriolage et l’y fait participer. Le manque d'habileté de Bunny et ses bévues sont heureusement rachetés par la science du héros. Bunny devient ensuite son confident et son historiographe, tout comme le docteur Watson l'est pour Sherlock Holmes.Personnage hédoniste et oisif, Raffles fréquente la meilleure société de Londres. Accueilli par de riches aristocrates, il leur fait souvent l'hommage d'une visite nocturne pour subtiliser dans leurs demeures argent, bijoux et œuvres d'art. Excellent sportif et joueur de cricket émérite, il adore les réunions mondaines où son élégance et son art de la conversation lui permettent de briller de mille feux.
Les aventures de Raffles se divisent en deux parties.
Après une première période où il est un gentleman en vue de la société des nantis, la gentry, et où il est célèbre pour ses qualités de sportsman, il est démasqué au cours d'une tentative de vol sur un bateau de croisière. Hornung le fait alors disparaître - comme Conan Doyle avait fait mourir Sherlock Holmes aux chutes du Reichenbach - en le faisant plonger du navire et en laissant supposer qu'il s'est noyé.
Pendant la seconde période, le héros se livre à des cambriolages, puis s'engage comme volontaire pendant la Seconde Guerre des Boers. Il rachète alors sa conduite, avant de mourir en démasquant un espion ennemi.
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Filmography of A. J. Raffles (3 films)
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Raffles (1939)
, 1h12Directed by Sam Wood
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy thriller, Romantic comedy, Adventure, Historical, Crime, Romance
Themes Heist films, Gangster films, Escroquerie
Actors David Niven, Olivia de Havilland, May Whitty, Dudley Digges, Douglas Walton, E. E. Clive
Rating63%
A.J. Raffles, the celebrated cricketer, is welcomed in the parlours and country estates of high society. This circumstance he uses to his advantage in his secret career as "The Amateur Cracksman", a master burglar and safecracker who remains always one step ahead of Scotland Yard. An old school friend, Bunny Manders, reintroduces Raffles to his sister, Gwen, with whom Raffles had been infatuated a decade ago. Raffles falls in love with her all over again, and she with him. When Bunny confides a crushing gambling debt over which he is considering suicide, Raffles assures him the money can be obtained. He plans to accept a weekend invitation to the country house of Lord and Lady Melrose; Lady Melrose's famous jewellery can easily solve Bunny's problem. Another guest, however, is Inspector MacKenzie incognito, who clearly suspects Raffles of being the Cracksman. Raffles plots to frame a petty criminal with the jewel theft...but keep the jewellery, of course.
Raffles (1930)
, 1h12Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, George Fitzmaurice, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Adventure, Historical, Crime, Romance
Themes Heist films, Gangster films, Escroquerie
Actors Ronald Colman, Kay Francis, Bramwell Fletcher, Virginia Bruce, David Torrence, Alison Skipworth
Rating63%
Gentleman jewel thief Raffles (Ronald Colman) decides to give up his criminal ways as the notorious "Amateur Cracksman" after falling in love with Lady Gwen (Kay Francis). However, when his friend Bunny Manders (Bramwell Fletcher) tries to commit suicide because of a gambling debt he cannot repay, Raffles decides to take on one more job for Bunny's sake. He joins Bunny and Gwen as guests of Lord and Lady Melrose, with an eye toward acquiring the Melrose necklace, once the property of Empress Joséphine.
, 1h10Directed by George Irving
Origin USA
Genres Adventure, Crime
Actors John Barrymore, Evelyn Brent, Frank Morgan, Christine Mayo, Kathryn Adams, H. Cooper Cliffe
Rating63%
As described in a film magazine, A. J. Raffles (Barrymore), a highly educated crook with entree to the best social circles, steals for the love of it and the thrill of the chase, enjoying outwitting the police and amateur detectives. An international swindler who has possession of a priceless ruby takes passage on a steamship and Raffles does likewise. Miles from land, Raffles determines that the swindler has hidden the gem in a cavity in his shoe. After getting the ruby, Raffles empties a cartridge from his revolver and substitutes the ruby in its place. There is an outcry over the theft, and on searching Raffles a ship's officer takes the gun and removes all of the cartridges. Raffles grabs the cartridges and places them in his mouth and then jumps overboard, swimming to land. During his escape he was seen by Mrs. Vidal (Mayo), an English society woman. Raffles reappears in London, mixing with the upper class, where he is recognized by Mrs. Vidal. She falls in love with him, and attempts to force him to love her by threatening to tell of his past theft. Raffles, who is in love with Gwendolyn (Adams), defies her. The famous jewels of Lady Melrose (Brundage) disappear while Raffles is a guest of the house. Mrs. Vidal immediately suspects that Raffles is the thief and again threatens to expose him, but he laughs at her. Captain Bedford (Perry), an amateur detective, declares that he will find the thief responsible for the Melrose robbery and even makes a bet with Raffles that the thief will be arrested. Bedford is sure that Raffles is the thief. Raffles then uses some ingenious methods to get the Melrose jewelry out of his possession, but still have them at his disposal when needed. Finally, but not until after he looses the bet, Bedford proves that Raffles is the thief and Raffles shows that he took them only to prevent a professional thief from stealing them.