Tonight's Movie: Larceny (1948) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

In recent months Kino Lorber has released several wonderful "never on DVD" film noir titles, including THE WEB (1947) and ALIAS NICK BEAL (1949), with NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES (1948) coming next month.

Another title I was thrilled to see released on Blu-ray was LARCENY (1948), which I first saw in 2013.

Since that first viewing I also saw LARCENY in 35mm at both the 2014 Noir City Film Festival and the 2018 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival, but a release for home viewing never happened...until now!

I've found LARCENY thoroughly engaging on each viewing, although it admittedly seems to run out of plot prematurely at the 89-minute mark.

The screenplay is by Herb Margolis, Lou Morheim, and William Bowers; Bowers had a knack for terrific dialogue, including in THE WEB, ABANDONED (1949), and CRY DANGER (1951), as well as the later SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF! (1969). The movie bristles with terrific lines, delivered with flair by lead actors John Payne and Dan Duryea.

Payne plays Rick Mason, a con artist who's part of a gang headed by Silky Randall (Duryea).

The men's latest "mark" is war widow Deborah Clark (Joan Caulfield), who lives in the small town of Mission City, California. Mission City is apparently located near Pasadena, where some of the movie's location shooting was done; Deborah and Rick spend New Year's Day at the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl.

Rick and Silky plan to use Deborah to raise funds for a boys' club in memory of her late husband, after which they'll make off with the dough, but as Rick falls for Deborah he has trouble going through with the plan. When Deborah decides to kick in a large sum of money herself Rick's guilt kicks into overdrive, but if he doesn't follow through, Silky is a dangerous man to cross.

Ultimately the movie doesn't seem to know quite what to do with Payne's no-good ladies' man, who also catches the eye of a waitress (Patricia Alphin) and a secretary (the fabulous Dorothy Hart, who is way underused in this film). That said, I've come to like the ending more with each successive viewing, partly because I know what to expect and partly because it provides a great line for Duryea, who like Hart could have used a bit more screen time.

Shelley Winters is also on hand as Silky's masochistic moll. I'm not the world's biggest Winters fan, particularly when it comes to her more pathetic characters, but I've definitely come to appreciate what she offers in a film like this one or PLAYGIRL (1954), which I just saw for a second time at the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival.

LARCENY was directed by George Sherman and filmed in black and white by Irving Glassberg.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray looks and sounds as good as is typical for the company. It's a great pleasure to watch this film, and I'm so appreciative it's now available for home viewing at long last. Film noir fans should definitely snap this one up.

Disc extras are a commentary track by Eddy Von Mueller and trailers for eight additional film noir titles available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

LARCENY is also available from Kino Lorber on DVD.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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