Blu Ray Review: Larceny (1948)

Kino Lorber’s classics division has released, on blu ray, the Universal post war noir film Larceny, which stars John Payne, Joan Caulfield, Dan. Duryea, and Shelley Winters.

Directed by George Sherman, Larceny features Payne as a con man who attempts to swindle a widow (Joan Caufield) out of her savings, convincing her that it is for a war memorial that will honor her deceased husband. As he pretends to be a war buddy who saw him fall, the war widow accepts his every word. He eventually falls in love with the woman and feels remorse, but fears the reaction by his ruthless boss (Dan Duryea). Adding another element of conflict: the boss’s tough moll (Shelley Winters) is attracted to the con man.

While names like Dan Duryea and John Payne are remembered by film buffs, they have not lived on at the level of other post-war film stars like Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas. Each is at his best here, with Payne very handsome, smooth, and anchored, while Duryea is creepy, wily, and exudes real danger (Duryea should have had more footage). Joan Caulfield radiates the sort of feminine beauty that anchors film noir with the necessary innocence that is a feature component of the subgenre.

However, it can be argued that Shelley Winters all but steals the film from the male stars. Young and pretty, Winters powers over her appearance with a toughness that jarringly explodes into violence. She is the component that causes the further underlying conflict that bolsters the main narrative.

Although this can be considered post-war noir, Sherman doesn’t pace the film with an eerie slowness and he keeps most of the scenes brightly lit. It is the characters and situations he explores that draw us in, and the performances that make it all work.

There are some elements to the film that some reviewers have determined are erroneous while to this reviewer they seem planned and are effective. For instance, the appearance of enemies from the lead character’s past are very random and distracting, loose ends that seem to be purposefully inserted without the intention of exploring them further. They show the tumultuous existence of the character, and that the immediate situation is not his only concern.

This is the first appearance of Larceny on home video, and the Kino Lorber blu ray also features a typically fine commentary track by the always interesting Eddy Von Mueller.

The blu ray can be purchased at this link: LARCENY