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Like Dick Powell, John Payne was another crooner and hoofer from ‘30s musicals – a light leading man – who saw new opportunities waiting in the changing Hollywood of the late ‘40s and seized them. Eschewing also-ran roles in prestige pictures (The Razor's Edge, Miracle on 34th Street), he found he was better off taking top billing in the grittier Bs of the newborn noir cycle. It was a smart move. With rugged good looks but no glamour boy, a strong, silent type who didn't make it a gimmick, he turned into a plausible and appealing Average Joe, without ever fading into the generic. In the half-dozen or so noirs he starred in, he straddled both sides of the law, though he usually found himself stranded in a no-man's land in the middle.

In Larceny, he's one of a gang of con-men led by Dan Duryea. They've just finished a grift in Miami Beach, so Payne is sent to the far coast, to `Mission City,' to lay groundwork for the next job. He poses as an old service buddy of a slain war hero so the widow (Joan Caulfield) will spearhead a fund-raising drive for a memorial – sort of a posh Boy's Town for underprivileged youth – that, of course, is nothing more than a scheme for bilking donors.

But that mischievous cherub Cupid throws a few monkey wrenches into the works. First off, Payne starts developing protective feelings for Caulfield and, more slowly, she for him (she's been playing Vestal Virgin at her husband's altar for so long she finds her own feelings a betrayal). Even worse, Duryea's moll, a `boa constrictor in high heels' (Shelley Winters, in full blonde-bombshell mode) carries such a torch for Payne that she follows him out west, by bus yet. The sicker Payne grows of her, the needier and more reckless she gets – their unstable chemistry threatens to blow them both sky high. The plot executes several quick turns when the possessive Duryea shows up (as does the victim of the Miami scam), when Caulfield reveals that she plans to put up all the money herself, and when Winters decides to take matters into her own pistol-packin' hand....

The violence in Larceny is toned way down, confined mainly to Winters' being slapped around (but she slaps back). It relies instead on a tight script, bristling with smart-mouthed cracks: `[Winters] is like a high-tension wire. Once you grab on, you can't let go – even if you want to;' `You kiss like you're paying off an election bet;' `I said I'm sorry but I'm not going to write it on the blackboard 100 times.' It allows Percy Helton and Dorothy Hart space enough to flesh out their small parts (Hart does a scrumptious riff on Dorothy Malone's bookstore clerk in The Big Sleep). All in all, Larceny proves a congenial vehicle for Payne's welcome arrival in dark city.

Watching Larceny I thought the way the film was building toward the climax I was sure of a sentimental ending. But far from it with this film. What we get is a crackerjack and original realistic ending in this noir film.

John Payne plays a smooth talking confidence man who is part of a gang headed by Dan Duryea. Duryea has set up a big score and Payne has to romance war widow Joan Caulfield who thought her hero husband walked on water. The con involves swindling Caulfield ot of money to build a youth center for the town's young people and Payne poses as a GI buddy of the late husband.

Payne's working a few cons here. He's also going out with the sultry and possessive Shelley Winters who is two timing Duryea. In the end though he falls for Caulfield and that sets up the climax.

Shelley Winters also has one of her good career roles in Larceny. The kind of woman that ought to come with a warning label. And Duryea gives us one of his classic bad guy roles as well.

The script is a fine piece of writing and the director gets some great performances out of his ensemble cast. Do not miss this one, it's one of the best noirs out there.

There is nothing more frustrating for a critic to review than a good film that goes slightly awry at the end. I will not give you any spoilers, but suffice it to say that Payne and Winters do a pretty good job, along with Duryea in convincing us that the world is divided among the rotten and the honorable. And then there are those who are stuck somewhere in between. The ending did not ring true to me, but others may have found it more convincing. See this one for yourself and decide if you think it was handled correctly.

Payne, who normally played goody-goody roles in most of his other films, is, at times, convincing as a confidence man, but at other times falls back into his Mr. Nice Guy persona. Maybe that was the intent of the writers, but I was not buying it.

"Larceny" from 1948 is a kind of an all over the place noir. It starts with a group of con men led by Silky (Dan Duryea) lousing up a scam and being forced to think of something else. He and his cronies come up with the idea of sending Rick (John Payne) to seduce a wealthy war widow (Joan Caulfield) into building a huge war memorial in her husband's memory. He has to lie and say her husband was his best pal in the service.

Meanwhile, Silky's girlfriend Tory (Winters) seems anxious to be with Payne and gets in the way at every turn. Silky isn't happy about this, which could be dangerous.

Payne meanwhile falls for Caulfield and vice versa. It turns into a real mess.

It was okay. Every woman in the film - Caulfield, Winters, Patricia Alphin, who plays a waitress, and Dorothy Hart all act as if they've never seen a man before when they meet Payne. He was handsome, but the characters seemed more like aggressive women from a later era.

The exception would be Caulfield, whose character was more subtle. Dorothy Hart didn't have much of a career, but she was absolutely stunning.

Above average, minor crime film, well-directed by George Sherman. The Noir credentials of LARCENY can be disputed, but we can see John Payne's character as trapped by circumstances of his own choosing. As successful con-man, with a special talent for romancing rich women, he meets his match when something like real love comes along.

Payne is good at playing the conflicted states of the character. We've also got Dan Duryea, at his best, playing a bad guy, Shelley Winters, a razor-tongued harridan, and Percy Helton in a rare, somewhat substantial role as hotel manager. Dan O'Herlihy seems an odd choice. His British accent and gentle manner seem at odds with the confidence racket (but maybe that's the point). The dialog is quite good all the way through, with some quotable lines.

"Stop twisting my arm! People will think we're married!"

"Tory's like a high tension wire - once you grab on, you can't let go... even if you want to... and I don't want to. I like Tory. I like her a lot."

Not essential, or even very memorable, but you could do worse than to see LARCENY, now nicely transferred on blu-ray.