Larceny

“I can’t seem to settle down. It’s the disease of our times.” While it lacks the action and gunfire of better-known noirs, George Sherman’s Larceny builds its tension through psychological traps and emotional duplicity. An entertaining entanglement of lies and frames and deceptions, the film stars the always stoic John Payne as con man Rick Maxon who, along with partner Silky Randall (Dan Duryea), targets a wealthy war widow for his next fraudulent enterprise. Pretending to have served on the battlefield with her recently deceased husband, Maxon makes the acquaintance of the naive, kindhearted Deborah Owens Clark (Joan Caulfield) and over time persuades her to fund a war memorial in her husband’s name; by gaining her confidence and trust and, ultimately, romantic devotion, Maxon secures the role of managing (stealing) the funds, but his conscience may keep him from going all the way. Possibly more reprehensible than the guys, however, is the bitter, money-hungry Tory (Shelley Winters), who is sleeping with both of them and has no qualms about using fraud and blackmail to get whatever she wants (“It’s been such a long time since I murdered my mother”).