The Rat (1937)

Jean Boucheron the cat burglar is the darling of the Montmartre whores--and catches the eye of slumming socialite Zelia de Chaumont, who decides to "reform" him. A complication is his ... See full summary »

Director:

Jack Raymond

Writers:

Romney Brent, Constance Collier (play),

Stars:

Ruth Chatterton, Anton Walbrook, René Ray

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ruth Chatterton	...	Zelia de Chaumont
Anton Walbrook	...	Jean Boucheron, the 'Rat'
René Ray	...	Odile Verdier
Beatrix Lehmann	...	Marguerite
Mary Clare	...	Mere Colline
Felix Aylmer	...	Prosecuting Counsel
Hugh Miller	...	Luis Stets
Gordon McLeod	...	Caillard
Frederick Culley	...	Judge
Nadine March	...	Rose
George Merritt	...	Pierre Verdier
Leo Genn	...	Defending Counsel
Fanny Wright	...	Therese
Bob Gregory	...	Albert
Ivan Wilmot	...	Peter

Storyline

Jean Boucheron the cat burglar is the darling of the Montmartre whores--and catches the eye of slumming socialite Zelia de Chaumont, who decides to "reform" him. A complication is his lovely young ward Odile... murder and a grand courtoom scene ensue.

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Plot Keywords:

remake | based on play

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 January 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Ratte

Filming Locations:

Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Herbert Wilcox Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Remake of The Rat (1926)

User Reviews

Not bad, if you can find it.

This was a solid little melodrama about the Parisian underworld, its denizens and visitors. Anton Walbrook plays Jean Bucheron aka the Rat, a cat-burglar with a heart of, well, at least bronze, maybe silver. A friend on death-row, about to go to his rendez-vous with la guillotine, sends for Jean to ask him to take care of his daughter, the innocent young Odile. By "take care of", the friend means "keep your hands off of", which Jean manages to do, for awhile. Besides keeping his own hands off, Jean is also called upon to fend off a persistent madam who seems to have no goal in life but to recruit Odile, and some sort of ugly sailor.

Then Zelia, a wealthy woman played by Ruth Chatterton, goes on a little police-escorted slumming trip with her odious boyfriend, and they end up at Jean's usual haunt just in time to interrupt his plans to kill his ex-partner in a knife fight. Zelia decides she wants to meet the handsome young knife-fighter and has the chief of police introduce her. The chief of police says "you don't want to meet him, he's a very unpleasant character" and Zelia responds "but I know so many pleasant characters already". She needles Jean into dancing with her, and later that night he cat-burgles his way into her boudoir, more to finish their conversation than to steal her pearls.

The two get chummy and evidently go on dates all over the place, though we only see the notes arranging the dates and not the dates themselves. Meanwhile Zelia's god-awful fiancée has taken a shine to Odile and a murder is the result of that. Then it's time for the big courtroom scene where everyone plays a game of Oneupsmanship Of Lies, with a trip to the guillotine as grand prize.