Pitfall (de Toth 1948)
John Forbes is a bored suburban husband attacking his predictable morning ritual with snarky one-liners. Mac, a freelance detective who does jobs for insurance exec Forbes, uncovers the girlfriend of a jailed heister whose place is loaded with goodies paid for with stolen cash. Mac wants another crack at Mona Stevens, who he describes as quite a looker, but Forbes takes the case. Forbes checks out a company car and heads over to Mona’s place. She’s an intoxicating department store model with a sad sack demeanor doing her best to get by–she’d prefer to do right and makes honest assessments of her situation. As Forbes dispassionately catalogues her belongings, she makes an honest assessment of his situation, describing him as a bored desk-jockey, a briefcase swinger going through the motions. It hits too close to home. Mona’s prized possession is a boat, hardly a yacht, but it brings her great joy. They bond while out on the water, and Forbes softens enough to keep the boat off his report. Mac, who takes to stalking his new fixation, knows about the boat and starts to suspect something is up. Forbes and Mona begin a brief fling, and Mac begins an all-out blackmail campaign, threatening to expose Forbes to his wife and kid. Forbes, unwilling to abandon his family, breaks things off, leaving Mona the martyr to bear the whole burden, fending off Mac’s advances yet refusing to sell Forbes out.
Mac, with the persistent desperation of a sagacious dog, is convinced he can make Mona like him. With her boyfriend Smiley soon to be sprung from the pen, Mac visits him, planting ideas about Mona and Forbes. Upon Smiley’s release, Mac sets him up with a loaded gun, a bottle of whiskey and Forbes’ address. Smiley pays Mona a visit first, so she’s able to tip Forbes off. Forbes shoots Smiley on his property and easily convinces the cop that it’s the self-defense killing of an intruder. With his plan in action, Mac goads Mona on by bragging about his victory, packing her case and making their future plans, claiming her as a prize. She shoots him.
Mona is arrested but still refuses to implicate Forbes, who finally feels compelled to admit his part in the drama. He receives a stern lecture from a cop about calling the police rather than taking matters into his own hands but Smiley’s shooting was still self-defense whether he knew he was coming or not and Mona’s was manslaughter (and maybe murder) whether or not the target deserved it. The cop displays sympathy for Mona, wishing the roles were reversed, but admits there isn’t much he can do about it.
Forbes confesses to his wife, a pearls and all Sunnyland mother with an unusually sharp tongue, who vows to fight for their family. When he’s game to stick it out, she concludes that they’ll make a try of it.
Larceny (Sherman 1948)
Larceny profiles a gang of con men specializing in the long con, usually some phony property development scheme. They milk a mark for the fund-raising and make off with the dough. At the helm of this operation is Silky Randall, a slick-threaded sweet-talker whose authority is undermined by his affinity for a zany and disloyal girlfriend, a manic moll named Tori. Rick Mason is his go-to guy, a tall dark and handsome con with all the right moves. He’s irresistible to women, especially Tori. Silky’s suspicions have been taking their toll on the outfit’s operations.
They target a young California war widow heavily invested in a charitable boy’s club that was incredibly important to her late husband Jim, a “perfect” war hero who lived for “the kids.” Rick talks his way into the club’s trust with a phony yarn about being in Jim’s platoon right before he died. Rick is unflappable in the face of scrutiny. Whenever a curious eye is raised at one of his tales, he adeptly talks his way out of the jam. Nothing is sacred. He’s asked to give a talk on honesty to the boys and is met with a standing ovation, which is where the widowed Deb first encounters him. He uses concern for her husband’s legacy to gain the confidence of the lovely yet all bottled up widow and eventually makes his pitch–a boy’s club/war memorial to honor Jim. Of course, nothing but the best for Jim’s boys–it has to be the most expensive chunk of land in town.
Rick is an effortless hommes fatale, balancing several women’s interest, a waitress, a saucy bank secretary, Deb, and to his consternation, Tori, who follows him to California despite being shipped off for a siesta in Cuba. Rick doesn’t hesitate to play off their interest if it helps the game.
As things progress with Deb, she begins to let her defenses down, to open her heart. Rick seems to soften. It might be love. But Silky and the gang are in town, and they want results. Rick tries to wiggle his way out of the deal at the last minute and almost succeeds until Tori intervenes. A showdown in the cabin Tori had been staying results in her shooting–she pulls a gun on Rick who turns it on her before it goes off in the struggle. When the gang arrive, they try to pin it on Deb, who had been knocked unconscious. They rather easily convince Deb that she shot Tori and even have her father ready to pay them off when the police arrive because Rick had called them in advance. As the cops haul the gang away, Rick gives himself up.
like Deported: trying to scam good girl (Fallen Angel) softening in many ways, but apparently on board with heist until very late in the game
Deported (Siodmak 1950)
Vittorio Sparducci is an Italian-born American deported back to his homeland after a five year stretch for a 100k heist. He is forced to spend 30 days in the small town of his birth upon his return. With the money never accounted for, the man now known as “Vic Smith” is watched with keen interest by both his former partner and an Italian copper who are convinced that despite talk of a clean life, Vic will make a play for his dough.
Vic gets in good with The Contessa, a philanthropist widow determined to feed the village’s hungry. As in Larceny, the tall, dark and handsome con talks the lovely but prim and reserved widow into living a little while she chisels away at his rough, guarded exterior. Vic promises to deliver $100k worth of food supplies from the US, but begs the Contessa to keep his name out of it. As the community celebrates the arrival of enough aid to feed all in town, she can’t help revealing the identity of the generous man among them, which triggers the suspicion of the police detective who had just recently abandoned his hunch about Vic and the money.
Despite signs that Vic has fallen for Christine, the Contessa, he seems down with the set up until day of the delivery. At the last minute, he tries to back out of the plan to rob and liquidate the food into cash. His partner and the various minions driving the trucks aren’t so crazy about his change of heart. He helps hault the proceedings and then comes clean to both the coppers and the Contessa.
