Midnight Club (1933)

Randomly, I checked youtube for new stuff and found a George Raft movie I hadn't seen.

Midnight Club is a fun little visit into the world of aristocratic jewel thieves in London.  The titular Midnight Club functions as a hide-out/base of operations for Colin Grant (Clive Brook) and his gang.  This movie makes thievery into a gentleman's game, and everyone is oh-so-polite throughout.  He and the rest of his gang have employed a set of doubles (the same actors in some beautiful split screen work that does not look like split screen).  The doubles will sit in plain view at their table in the Midnight Club, setting up a perfect alibi, while the real gang goes out and steals jewels.  Commissioner Hope (Guy Standing) knows Grant is guilty, but he simply can't find a way to prove it.  No matter what he does, who he has watched, Grant's beautiful little setup thwarts the good guys.

Enter George Raft, as Nick Mason, an American detective brought over to infiltrate Grant's gang.  Yes!  He's playing a good guy, which I quite enjoyed.  Of course his job is complicated when he falls for the girl, Iris (Helen Vinson).

The fun of this film is mostly just watching the good guys and bad guys sparring with each other in a verbal cat-and-mouse.  The commissioner knows Grant is guilty, Grant knows he knows it and is delightfully smug in the fact that the commissioner will never figure out his secret.  They remain oh-so-polite and friendly to each other throughout, which is quite refreshing.  There's a wee bit of violence at the end when Grant finally cottons on to the fact that Raft isn't who he says he is, but it's short (too short, lol.)