The film noir elements of LARCENY are well-covered in the other reviews, so I'm going to focus on how sensational Shelley Winters is in the bad girl role. Dan Duryea is obsessed with her, while Shelley is obsessed with handsome John Payne, who seems indifferent to her charms. It's the biggest hole in the script, since Shelley is slinky, sexy and sultry. How John could prefer the insipid, bland, weepy Joan Caulfield over the firecracker Winters is a mystery only a screenwriter could devise. It's easy to see from her assured performance that Shelley was definitely on her way up ... she would enjoy a brief sex symbol period before embarking on her two-time Oscar winning career as a dramatic actress and earned her place in film history.
Review of Larceny
