Hotelratten (1927)

The elegant Continental Hotel has for some time been plagued by a jewel thief who has robbed quite a few of its wealthy guests. Mr. and Mrs. Bellmann and their charming daughter Ethel are staying there, too. A mysterious hotel guest named Jenkins, about whom nobody knows much, makes a particularly conspicuous effort to court the young woman. But she is not interested and gives the persistent suitor a sharp rejection. When Jenkins returns to his room, he catches a burglar in the act. The American draws his revolver, and the thief begs him for mercy. Jenkins has what he considers a brilliant idea. He plans to use the man he caught in an elaborate revenge scheme against Ethel, who has spurned him. Jenkins turns the man into a certain Prince Ladrone (Italian for “highway robber”). But the next day things go completely differently from how Jenkins had planned. First, he is taken aback when “his” burglar checks in the following day in impeccable style as Prince Ladrone, then warmly greets a close female relative, Princess Ladrone, as if they had known each other forever. Then something happens that suits Jenkins even less: Ethel makes eyes at the bogus prince and seems to fall head over heels for him. Lilian Bellmann, her stepmother, also seems to have more than a passing interest in the handsome young man. Events move swiftly, and soon Father Bellmann feels obliged to announce his daughter’s engagement to Prince Ladrone, so as not to leave himself open to compromise. But now Jenkins thinks he has achieved his goal: in front of everyone, he accuses the prince of being the long-sought jewel thief, whereupon the young man bolts in a panic. The hotel staff runs after him. During his escape, the false prince encounters a small, trained monkey that has just stolen Mrs. Bellmann’s jewelry and has not yet delivered the goods to its owner. Ladrone chases the little animal until it leaps at Jenkins and seeks shelter with him. This exposes Jenkins as the jewel thief, known in the trade as the “hotel rat.” In the end, everything is cleared up: the “prince” and the “princess” are in fact employed by the criminal police and had been on Jenkins’s trail for a long time. They had to play this charade in order to prove his guilt. When Bellmann realizes this, he no longer objects to his daughter’s actually becoming engaged to the upholder of the law.