''Larceny, Inc.'' is a 1942 American film. Originally released on May 2, 1942, by Warner Bros., the film is a cross between comedy and gangster genres. Directed by

Lloyd Bacon Lloyd Francis Bacon (December 4, 1889 – November 15, 1955) was an American screen, stage and vaudeville actor and film director. As a director he made films in virtually all genres, including westerns, musicals, comedies, gangster films, an ...

, the film stars

Edward G. Robinson Edward G. Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg; December 12, 1893January 26, 1973) was a Romanian-American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during the Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays and more than 100 films duri ...

Jane Wyman Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007)"Actress, P ...

Broderick Crawford William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Willie Stark in ''All th ...

, and

Jack Carson John Elmer Carson (October 27, 1910 – January 2, 1963) was a Canadian-born American film actor. Carson often played the role of comedic friend in films of the 1940s and 1950s, including ''The Strawberry Blonde'' (1941) with James Cagney and ...

, and features

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...

, and

Edward Brophy Edward Santree Brophy (February 27, 1895 – May 27, 1960) was an American character actor and comedian, as well as an assistant director and second unit director during the 1920s. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently ...

. The film is based on the play ''The Night Before Christmas'' by Laura Perelman and

S.J. Perelman Sidney Joseph Perelman (February 1, 1904 – October 17, 1979) was an American humorist and screenwriter. He is best known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for ''The New Yorker''. He also wrote for several other magazines ...

Plot

Suave convict J. Chalmers "Pressure" Maxwell decides to go straight. Just before he is released from

Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...

prison along with his none-too-bright accomplice Jug Martin, he rejects a proposal by fellow inmate Leo Dexter to rob a bank. Maxwell hopes to purchase a dog racing track in Florida and become a legitimate businessman with Denny Costello, his adopted daughter. However, he lacks the funds necessary. When his loan request is rejected by the bank (the same one Leo planned to rob), he decides to rob the place. Noticing a luggage shop next door, he buys the store from Homer Bigelow. He has Jug and their friend Weepy Davis start digging a tunnel in the basement. Meanwhile, slick salesman Jeff Randolph convinces Weepy to order several dozen pieces of luggage to stock the store. Soon afterward, Jeff falls in love with Denny. When Denny discovers Pressure's scheme, she gets Jeff to create various advertising gimmicks that bring in a flood of customers, forcing a stop to the noisy digging and showing the crooks that legitimate sales can be profitable. The store flourishes, and the bank next door offers to purchase it from them to expand its space. Pressure is ready to accept the offer, but when Leo learns that Pressure has stolen his idea, he breaks out of jail to take over. Due to the success of the luggage business, Pressure has abandoned the robbery plan, but Leo forces them to go through with it. Leo plans on breaking into the vault with dynamite on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

. Complicating matters, Homer Bigelow reappears, nostalgic for his store. He gets knocked out, but manages to press the burglar alarm. Leo panics and reaches for his gun, but Pressure intervenes, and then he is knocked unconscious. Leo tries to escape, only to be caught by the police. The store erupts in flames, but Pressure revives and manages to drag Homer Bigelow outside, becoming a hero. Denny accepts Jeff's marriage proposal. Pressure makes plans to build a new store, the first in a chain.

Cast

Analysis

The plot of

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

's '' Small Time Crooks'' is similar to the plot of ''Larceny, Inc.''. Robert Osborne of

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

on June 15, 2006 Allen never has commented on whether this was deliberate or if his film was in any way inspired by ''Larceny, Inc.''. Robinson took the role of Pressure Maxwell in this film to offset his "tough guy" image as established in his many appearances as gangsters or police officers in previous Warner Bros. films. The film features many members of the Warner Bros. "stock company" and included an early film appearance by

Jackie Gleason John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...

as a drug store soda jerk.

References

External links

* * * * {{Lloyd Bacon 1942 films 1940s Christmas comedy films 1940s crime comedy films American black-and-white films American Christmas comedy films American crime comedy films American films based on plays American heist films Films about bank robbery Films directed by Lloyd Bacon Films scored by Adolph Deutsch Warner Bros. films 1940s heist films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films