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Larceny

Larceny

  • Status: Released
  • 03-09-1948
  • Runtime: 89 min
  • Score: 5.7
  • Vote count: 13

Rick Mason is the no-good lowdown rat who tries to capitalize on postwar patriotism and grief. He finagles a war widow into giving up her savings for a nonexistent memorial. When Mason falls in love with the widow he has pangs of conscience, but he reckons without his con-artist boss, who tends to bolster his arguments with muscle and bullets.

John Payne

Rick Mason

Joan Caulfield

Deborah Owens Clark

Dan Duryea

Silky Randall

Shelley Winters

Tory

Dorothy Hart

Madeline

Richard Rober

Max

Dan O'Herlihy

Duke

Nicholas Joy

Walter Vanderline

Percy Helton

Charlie Jordan

Walter Greaza

Mr. Owens

Patricia Alphin

Waitress

Harry Antrim

Mr. McNulty

Russ Conway

Detective

Paul Brinegar

Mechanic

Don Wilson

Master of Ceremonies

Oliver Hartwell

Black Porter (uncredited)

CinemaSerf

Poor old war widow "Deb" (Joan Caulfield) is hoodwinked into donating her savings to build a memorial to her late husband by the sharp "Rick" (John Payne). It turns out that there is no such edifice, but "Rick" isn't able to be quite as cold and calculating as usual. He starts to fall for this dignified and respectable woman. That's a risky scenario, for his boss "Silky" (Dan Duryea) just wants the cash, and that's that. It doesn't help either that his bosses gal "Tory" (Shelley Winters) is pretty flaky, also quite keen on "Rick" and is quite shrewd at manipulation, too! Payne was never exactly versatile nor, for that matter, was the usually wooden Duryea but they do well enough with this solid story and whilst there is an inevitability to the ending, George Sherman manages to keep this well paced for 90 minutes and Winters plays her part really quite effectively. The lighting could have done with some extra wattage at times, but it is still good watch.