Stubs - Larceny, Inc.

Larceny, Inc. (1942) starring Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford, Jack Carson, Anthony Quinn, Edward Brophy. Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Screenplay by Everett Freeman, Edwin Gilbert. Based on the play The Night Before Christmas by Laura and S. J. Perelman (New York, 10 Apr 1941). Executive Producer: Hal B. Wallis. Run time: 95 minutes. Black and White. USA. Comedy, Drama, Christmas

Towards the end of his career at Warner Bros., Edward G. Robinson made movies that spoofed the hard-nosed gangster roles that had made him a star; comedies, like A Slight Case of Murder (1938) and Brother Orchid (1940). Both of these films were directed by Lloyd Bacon, so it is no surprise that Bacon would be chosen to direct Robinson’s final film at the studio, the comedy Larceny, Inc.

The film opens during a baseball game, J. Chalmers "Pressure" Maxwell (Edward G. Robinson) is catching during a baseball game, which turns out to be a game at Sing Sing prison and Maxwell is on the prisoner’s team. His pitcher, Jug Martin (Broderick Crawford), is told to pitch a fastball but insists on throwing a curve, which gets hit out of the ballpark. In order to win the game, Pressure talks Jug into getting hit by a ball when he’s up to bat with the bases loaded.

"Pressure" Maxwell (Edward G. Robinson), Leo Dexter (Anthony Quinn) and Jug Martin (Broderick Crawford).

While sitting on the bench, Pressure is approached by Leo Dexter (Anthony Quinn), another convict, about a bank job he’s worked out, but Pressure isn’t interested. He plans to go legit and open a dog race track in Florida. Leo is not satisfied and tells Smitty (Joseph Downing), another convict, hinting that he should be out soon on parole.

When Pressure and Jug are released, they go to New York, where they’re met by Denny Costello (Jane Wyman), Pressure’s adopted daughter. She’s happy to hear about his plans to go legit. Old friend Weepy Davis (Edward Brophy) is also there, but is trying to unload fake furs.

Even though Weepy and Jug are both interested in the bank job Leo mentioned, Pressure insists on doing the dog track. They’ll need $25,000, but when Pressure tries to borrow the money, the bank turns him down to his lack of collateral. Since Pressure can’t get the money through a loan, he decides to rob the bank for the money. They talk at the counter of a nearby drugstore, manned by Drugstore Soda Clerk (Jackie Gleason).

Weepy Davis (Edward Brophy), Pressure and Jug plan the bank robbery.

There is a luggage store next to the bank. The owner Homer Bigelow (Harry Davenport) is interested in selling, as he need to go to Florida for his health. Sam Bachrach (John Qualen), the owner of a neighboring music store, tries to broker a deal but Bigelow settles on $1000 for the store.

Only Pressure doesn’t have it, yet. He convinces Weepy to sell his car and then convinces Jug to fake an accident. Jug doesn’t want to, but he’s putty in Pressure’s hands. Pressure then put the squeeze on the driver and ends up with the $1000 he needs.

Jeff Randolph (Jack Carson) pressures Weepy to buy his suitcase line.

Pressure only intends to use the store as a front while they tunnel through the basement into the bank vault. While Jug does most of the heavy work, the other two take turns. When Weepy is left alone in the store, fast-talking suitcase salesman Jeff Randolph (Jack Carson) tries to show Weepy the new catalog. When he learns that they’ll have three months to make payment, and thinking they’ll be long gone by then, Weepy orders freely.

Jeff asks Denny Costello (Jane Wyman) to marry him.

Denny, who is unaware of the robbery plan, catches the eye of Jeff, who, on their first coffee date, again at the drugstore lunch counter, proposes marriage to her; she turns him down. But when all the luggage arrives early, Pressure encourages Denny to work with Jeff on ideas for how to sell them. They come up with a lot of promotions, which bring customers into the store. Pressure doesn’t like the disruptions, but the business, which in his vernacular is “velvet”, starts to change his mind about going legit.

Denny and Jeff passing out fliers hyping another sale.

Meanwhile, the local stores are upset by the stalled construction work for the subway on their street. Because Pressure had offhandedly told them how to handle it, they talk him into going to the contractor, McCarthy (William B. Davidson), to demand action. In front of the other merchants, Pressure talks tough but in private, he tells McCarthy that he doesn’t care about the road construction. But McCarthy takes action nevertheless and the road gets fixed and Pressure becomes a hero in the neighborhood.

Pressure reconsiders robbing the bank when money comes in from luggage sales.

With business booming, Pressure starts to think big and envisions the Maxwell Shopping Center.  However, the bank next door is suddenly interested in expanding and their officer, Mr. Aspinwall (Grant Mitchell), is sent to negotiate. Pressure wants more than the bank is offering.

Mr. Aspinwall (Grant Mitchell)  from the bank offers to buy the luggage store.

Denny encourages Pressure to sell, but before he can, Leo breaks out of prison and, having learned of Pressure's plans from Smitty, tries to take over the operation and go forward with the robbery.  But by this time, Pressure has become so successful in the luggage business, especially with the Christmas rush, that he has dropped his plans for the robbery. However, they cower to Leo, who insists that they dynamite the wall between the bank and the store anyway.

Leo escapes prison and insists on going forward with the bank robbery.

Pressure tries to get out from under Leo by trying to get Aspinwall to hurry the purchase, but the bank plans to be closed on Christmas Eve, when Pressure wants the money. Out of the blue, the previous owner, Bigelow, comes back from Florida and is interested in buying back the store.

Pressure offers to sell the store back, but for $3000. On Christmas Eve, with Jug out front dressed like Santa on the lookout for Bigelow, Pressure does all he can to delay the explosion. Pressure has Jug start a fight out front to gather a crowd. However, the man he picks on (Arthur Q. Bryan) knocks him out, forcing Pressure to don the Santa outfit.

Pressure dressed as Santa Claus.

Eventually, Bigelow shows up with the money but Leo won’t have anything stop him. He knocks Bigelow unconscious, but he manages to push the burglar alarm before he collapses. When Pressure stops Leo from shooting Bigelow, Leo also knocks him unconscious.

The explosion goes off and Leo and Smitty break into the vault and steal a couple of bags full of money. However, when they try to escape, with Jug and Weepy in tow, the police are waiting for them. The store catches fire and Pressure saves Bigelow from the flames.

Pressure being hit by a police car near the end of Larceny, Inc.

Now a hero, Pressure makes plans for a new, larger luggage store, but he needs money. He tries to get Jug to let himself be hit by another car, but he won’t do it, and neither will Weepy. Pressure calls it off but is hit by a car. When they realize it is a police car, all three make a run for it.

The film was released on April 24, 1942 and was not as well received as the other two films Robinson and Bacon had made together. Bosley Crowther, writing for The New York Times contemporary to the film’s release, does find problems with the film. “Larceny, Inc. is taken from the play, The Night Before Christmas, and, unfortunately, some of the faults of the original are still apparent in it. It is somewhat forced, somewhat obvious and there are repetitious stretches here and there. Also, the dialogue is not quite as brisk and clever as such farce dialogue should be.”

The film is not quite as funny as it wants to be. Crowther is correct that the dialogue is not as snappy as it should be for this kind of film, though there are some occasional moments they are more amusing than outright funny.

The one thing the film does have going for it is the acting. After his criticism of the film, Crowther does point out, “But the characters are whimsically assorted and generally well-played by such old hands as Mr. Crawford, Mr. Brophy, Jack Carson, Jane Wyman, John Qualen, and others on down the line. And Mr. Robinson, as usual, is a beautifully hard-boiled yegg. The principal joy is to watch him. His ‘Pressure’ cooks with gas.”

The main reason to watch the film is Robinson. He’s one of the great actors and while the lines he delivers aren’t as funny as you’d like, he still gives a good turn. He would go on to make such films as Double Indemnity (1944), The Woman in the Window (1944), Scarlet Street (1945, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945), The Stranger (1946) and Key Largo (1948) to name a few.

You might not think about it after watching his performance, but Broderick Crawford was only seven years away from winning an Academy Award as Best Actor for his performance in All the King's Men (1949). Crawford gives a good showing here as the oft-abused Jug, who never seems to get what he wants throughout the film.

Even though Jane Wyman was 25, she had already been in films for about 10 years, starting out  in The Kid from Spain (1932) as an uncredited chorus girl. I’m not a huge fan of hers, but that’s based on films like Magnificent Obsession (1954), where she’s playing more matronly roles. Here, she’s young and pretty and does well as Denny Costello.

Weepy (Edward Brophy) trying to sneak a pneumatic drill into the store disguised like a Christmas tree.

Edward Brophy, a one-time assistant director and second unit director in the 1920s, is probably best known for playing dumb cops and gangsters, the latter of which he’s playing here. This is not really a role that gets him away from the stereotype, but he gives a good performance as the third banana in the bunch.

Anthony Quinn is probably best known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility,” to quote L'universale Cinema. He had a real breakthrough the year before this film, with he played a matador in the bullfighting-themed Blood and Sand (1941) with Tyrone Power and Rita Hayworth. This would seem to be step back of sorts for him, as he’s playing a very one-note Leo Dexter. He does manage, however, to give the character a real sense of menace that even Pressure is want to cross.

There are several other actors, mostly Warner’s character actors, including Harry Davenport, John Qualen, and Grant Mitchell, who give good performances in limited roles. It is also pointed out that this is an early film appearance of Jackie Gleason, who, at this point, was years away from being called “the Great One.” In this film, he’s more of a nuisance than anything else. He must have been thought to have potential as he appears in two scenes, but with little dialogue.

Jackie Gleason gets two scenes, but doesn't really add much to the film.

It has been noted, in several articles about this film, that even though it wasn’t a huge success in its time, Larceny, Inc. did inspire Woody Allen’s Small Time Crooks (2000), in which a career criminal and his cronies want to lease a closed pizzeria so they can dig a tunnel from the basement of the restaurant to a nearby bank.

Larceny, Inc. is not a bad film, but it doesn’t seem to pull all the threads together. While Edward G. Robinson is the reason to watch this film, his performance is not enough to save it. Not strictly a Christmas movie, the holiday is referenced throughout the film. This might be one you watch once, but doubtful it would become an annual tradition.