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.
Acting
Dan Duryea's Silky Randall: slime personified, magnetic as ever.
Production
Poverty row noir that looks more expensive than it was.
Writing
Dialogue sharper than the con — until the third act wobbles.
Director
George Sherman
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
Harry Antrim
Mr. McNulty
Russ Conway
Detective
Paul Brinegar
Mechanic
Don Wilson
Master of Ceremonies
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
John Payne spent the '40s reinventing himself from musical lead to hardboiled noir antihero, and this was his transition era.
Released in 1948, Larceny cashed in on real postwar anxiety — gold star mothers were actually being scammed by fake memorial schemes.
US
