Customer Reviews

Larceny, Inc.

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Edward G Robinson was a very funny comedian and at the height of his career at Warner Brothers, he made 3 farces which sent up in some way his image as a gangster. The best was the first, "A Slight Case of Murder" but "Larceny Inc" released in 1942 is not far behind.

Robinson plays an ex-con who buys a luggage shop next to a bank. Having failed to raise capital for a dog track by going in through the front door of the bank, he decides to enter into the back by drilling through into the vault via the cellar of the shop. This is a set up for a really funny farce as business in the luggage shop booms and Robinson becomes the hero of his neighbours. The film has a Damon Runyan feel and a great supporting cast led by the indispensible Ed Brophy as Robinson's sidekick, Jane Wyman as his very pretty step daughter, Broderick Crawford as a particularly dense thug and best of all, Jack Carson, as the Hotchkiss man, the prototype of every fast talking salesman. There are so many funny scenes, but Brophy ("It comes in 10 delicious colours") and Robinson ("What do you expect for nine seventy five?") are standouts when they make a sale.

The print of the film is excellent and there are a generous list of mediocre extras. The short film, directed by John Huston, was an Oscar nominee and neat recruitment propaganda. James Stewart, a decorated airman, narrates. The newsreel, without soundtrack, shows a base ball match at Sing Sing which ties in nicely with the film. The cartoons are typical Warner's fare with that touch of cynicism which made their product so much better than the other studios' output. An early Bugs Bunny appears in one.

The dud of the package is the dreadful commentary. Two erudite academics/historians, one from Harvard no less, analyse the film with absolutely no sense of humour. "Larceny Inc" is a rollicking farce, filled with cardboard 2 dimensional figures, filmed with no other purpose but to entertain and generate big box office. These absurd historians analyse the film as an example of changing American values, an insight into capitalism among other things. What a load of hogwash. Furthermore, there is no information about the wealth of marvellous character actors which fill the screen. These guys seriously need to get down off their pedestal.

The DVD is best value if purchased as part of the Warner Brother's Gangster Collection Volume 4.

Larceny Inc is a witty little World war II era store of a con man (Edward G. Robinson) who plans on going straight but needs 25g's (25k in today's parlance) to buy into a dog track. When his legit attempts to raise the dough fail he falls back on Anthony Quinn's plan to hit a bank that he rejected just before leaving Sing Sing.

Unfortunately two things get in his way. He purchases a luggage store adjacent to the bank with plans to tunnel in, but his attempts to keep people out of his business are foiled by his daughter (Jane Wyman) determined to keep him strength, his fellow merchants that he accidentally champions against city hall and Anthony Quinn who doesn't take kindly to someone co-opting his idea.

You will find several familiar faces in supporting roles from Jack Carson, Broderick Crawford, Ed Brophy and an extremely young Jackie Gleason behind a pharmacy counter.

If you are looking for one of the great movies of all time you are looking in the wrong place, but if you want a solid funny "Christmas" movie that stands up to repeated watching then it is worth your time and money.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents "LARCENY, INC" (1942) (95 min/B&W) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) -- Starring Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford, Jack Carson, Edward Brophy & Anthony Quinn

Directed by Lloyd Bacon

As usual Eddie G steals the show -- This very well might be my favorite Edward G. Robinson picture. I have yet to see him in a bad performance. It concerns three rather dimwitted criminals who come up with a plan to rob a bank by tunneling in through the basement of the luggage shop next door. Robinson is the boss and he is supported by even more dimwitted Eddie Brophy and Broderick Crawford. This little gem of a story just builds and builds. Everything goes haywire when Anthony Quinn shows up and throws a monkey wrench into the whole works and the "gang" have to go reluctantly on the up and up. Jack Carson, as usual, plays a bumbling but earnest character, much as his cop "playwright" wonderful performance in "Arsenic and Old Lace" (1944).

They just don't make 'em like this anymore!

Robinson's adopted daughter is Jane Wyman and her beau is salesman Jack Carson. Wyman was also a few years from an Oscar for "Johnny Belinda" and Carson did break the mold of playing lovable blow hards.

Fast-paced comedy with the kind of "crackling" dialogue they don't write anymore. Robinson is a scream in the lead, and his supporting cast equals him. Here, the great Edward G. Robinson makes fun of his bad guy roles, like he will do a few years later in "Brother Orchid".

BIOS:
1. Lloyd Bacon [Director]
Date of Birth: 4 December 1889 - San Jose, California
Date of Death: 15 November 1955 - Burbank, California

2. Edward G. Robinson [aka: Emmanuel Goldenberg]
Date of Birth: 12 December 1893 - Bucharest, Romania
Date of Death: 26 January 1973 - Hollywood, California

3. Jane Wyman [aka: Sarah Jane Mayfield]
Date of Birth: 5 January 1917 - St. Joseph, Missouri
Date of Death: 10 September 2007 - Palm Springs, California

4. Broderick Crawford
Date of Birth: 9 December 1911 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date of Death: 26 April 1986 - Rancho Mirage, California

5. Jack Carson
Date of Birth: 27 October 1910 - Carman, Manitoba, Canada
Date of Death: 2 January 1963 - Encino, California

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 95 min on DVD ~ Warner Bros. Pictures ~ (01/25/2005)

Included with LARCENY INC. (1942), the Christmas movie that time forgot, is a PSA for the Army Air Force hosted by Jimmy Stewart, soundless newsreel footage of Major Leaguers playing exhibition ball at a federal pen, a B&W Porky Pig cartoon, and a Technicolor Bugs Bunny with the original dumpy Elmer Fudd, who gets a telegram from "Uncle Woowe."

Adapted from S. J. Perelman's failed Broadway play "The Night Before Christmas," many "Larceny" plot points were reused decades later by Woody Allen for his SMALL TIME CROOKS (2000):
1.) A gang of three tries accessing a bank vault from an adjoining store.
2.) Customers and a broken water pipe interrupt tunneling.
3.) The unexpected success of their business "front" makes a burglary unnecessary.
(NOTE: Tunneling into a bank was first used in A. Conan Doyle's "The Red-Headed League.")

SPOILERS FOLLOW!
The action in "Larceny" peaks on Christmas Eve.

Burglary plans have been abandoned in favor of booming buisness. Fellow ex-Sing Sing inmate Anthony Quinn muscles in on the defunct heist scheme, so Edw. G. Robinson hopes to sell his thriving luggage shop back to its original elderly owner and then "scram." He posts burly Broderick Crawford in a Santa Claus suit outside the closed store to watch for Quinn while the transfer is completed. Crawford tries alerting Robbie that Quinn has arrived but is floored with a haymaker from Elmer Fudd himself, AQ Bryan. At the point of a pistol, Quinn sends Robinson outside in the Santa outfit. The ill-fitting costume looks almost as ridiculous as the smoldering cigar stub in Robbie's mouth.

Robbie invites strolling carolers in and they serenade while Quinn fumes. They're shown the door after collecting a few dollars. When the new/old owner insists on reopening his store, Quinn knocks him to the floor. Robbie comes to the injured man's aid and is also rendered unconscious by Quinn's pistol butt. Right after TNT is set off in the basement, the storeowner hits a burglar alarm and passes out. Quinn and cohorts make a quick exit, leaving the two victims in a burning luggage shop....

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Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 IMDb viewer poll rating.

(7.4) Larceny Inc.(1942) - Edward G. Robinson/Jane Wyman/Broderick Crawford/Jack Carson/Edward Brophy/Anthony Quinn/Harry Davenport/John Qualen/Grant Mitchell/Jackie Gleason/Creighton Hale (uncredited: Arthur Q. Bryan/Lucien Littlefield/William Hopper/Harold Miller/Glen Cavender)

Larceny, Inc. is a truly hilarious little comedy directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Edward G. Robinson. When J. Chalmers "Pressure" Maxwell (Robinson) is released from Sing Sing, he vows to go straight, his plan being to buy a dog track in Florida for $25,000. Not having the needed money, he attempts to obtain it legitimately by borrowing it from a bank. But, when the loan is denied due to lack of collateral, Pressure decides to steal it instead. He soon discovers a luggage store on a street under heavy construction that sits right next to a bank. When he finds the owner Homer Bigelow (Harry Davenport) is anxious to sell, he seizes upon the opportunity, the idea being that the construction will drown out the noise of their drilling through the basement floor into the bank vault. Together with his two cohorts, Jug (Broderick Crawford) and Weepy (Edward Brophy), they take over the establishment. But, the three prove to be inept, bumbling crooks. Keeping customers out of the store soon becomes their biggest problem as the business starts to boom. Good added support by Jane Wyman and Jack Carson.

This is a fantistic movie that Edward G Robinson, starred. I think this movie was one of the funniest movies O have emjoyed.

I stumbled upon this largely forgotten 1942 comedy earlier today. It turns out that it was a very good movie, up there with any feature length comedy of that era. Eddie G Robinson, Broderick Crawford, and Ed Brophy were great together and showed a lot of chemistry. It left me wishing they had done more films together, but I think this is the only one all three did together. Jackie Gleason is nearly unrecognizable in an early role as a soda jerk. If I didn't read ahead of time that it was Gleason, I'm not sure I would have made the connection. Who would have guessed in 1942 that Gleason would ultimately have the greatest legacy of anyone in this film? Jane Wyman, Jack Carson, and Harry Davenport round out the great supporting cast.

The plot almost seems like something that came out of a Three Stooges short. Three ex-cons look to buy a dog track, but can't finance it, so they buy a luggage store next door to the bank and hope to build a tunnel from the store to the bank vault. Hijinks with tools, gushing water and oil, are present. The film's 82 minutes are paced well - it's the kind of film you can revisit down the road when the mood strikes again.

At long last! I finally found this movie for sale via Amazon and immediately ordered it. It's a treat to go back to the 'good old days' when movies like this were shown on the local Late Show which usually came on at 11:15 PM. I remember the Late Show's musical theme song Leroy Anderson's "The Syncopated Clock". As with the Boston TV stations in my neck of the woods, this seemed to be the format Late Shows around the country would use.

While we are getting spoiled by digital remastering techniques, I'm glad that movies of this vintage remain grainy and with less than optimal sound. It adds to the nostalgic value of the movie when that was the best quality the times offered. As well, IMHO today's 'comedy' can't hold a candle to those thrilling days of yesteryear (RIP Fred Foy)when artists like Edward G put on virtuoso performances without getting into 'in detail' sexual situations and the use of fowl language. Some of the language that movies out today use are enough to even make this ex Navy sailor (Moi) blush.

I'm constantly on the lookout for flicks of this era and scoop them up where I can be transported back in time when life was simpler and less stressful.