Larceny, Inc 1942-Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson has a ball parodying his own screen image of the smooth gangster, this time as a small-time hood with big dreams whose elaborate plan is complicated by misadventures and misunderstandings. Silly and amusing, though not as laugh-out-loud funny as it should have been considering the plot and casting, Larceny, Inc. is still a creative attempt by Warner Bros. and Robinson to mock their own reputations. One of the funniest scenes is the opening baseball game that creatively sets up the story. The film does not have enough of these genuine moments, and more often goes for the predictable, but it is still a superior example of the comedy heist film, made years before anyone even heard of that subgenre. Indeed, the later Italian classic I Soliti Ignoti takes several key elements from this film, including having the paroled prisoners try to pull off the plan of a fellow prisoner who remains incarcerated, and of course the obligatory hitting of the water main in the basement while digging (a sure-fire gag later reused by Woody Allen in Small Time Crooks). Robinson has never been smoother (you never see this guy acting) and it is clear he should have been given the opportunity to do more comedy in his career. Broderick Crawford is also good as the classic big lug sidekick, although he doesn't really bring anything new to the part, and the supporting cast is filled with such reliable players as Edward S. Brophy, Jack Carson, Harry Davenport, and a very young Jackie Gleason as an eavesdropping lunch counter man,and not to forget Anthony Quinn as the baddie.