A Touch of Larceny *** (1960, James Mason, George Sanders, Vera Miles) – Classic Movie Review 10,755

‘Meet the man with the hilarious plan to hoax the whole world out of a cool million… and coax a one-in-a-million girl into his arms!’

Director Guy Hamilton’s 1960 A Touch of Larceny stars James Mason as philandering British Navy Commander Max Easton, who was a one-time submarine commander but now is stuck in an office in the Admiralty. He meets rich former buddy Sir Charles Holland (George Sanders), and covets his delectable American fiancée Virginia Killain (Vera Miles). So he hatches a scheme to make a tidy sum to woo her by having himself accused of being a traitor defecting to the Soviets so that he can sue the newspapers for defamation for libel damages.

A Touch of Larceny is a bright, if contrived comedy from the novel The Megstone Plot by Paul Winterton [aka Andrew Garve], with an unusual plot and swish playing from an amiable cast, relishing the witty lines in the smart dialogue.

Also in the cast are Robert Flemyng, Ernest Clark, Duncan Lamont, Peter Barkworth, Oliver Johnston, William Kendall, Harry Andrews, Gordon Harris, Rachel Gurney, Waveney Lee, Charles Carson, Junia Crawford, Henry B Longhurst and Martin Stephens as John Holland.

The screenplay is by Roger MacDougall, Guy Hamilton and the producer Ivan Foxwell, who were nominated for the 1961 BAFTA Film Award for Best British Screenplay.

Guy Hamilton, the James Bond director of Goldfinger, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun, passed away at 93 in April 2016.

Popular child actor Martin Stephens is the boy in Village of the Damned, which also stars George Sanders. Stephens quit acting after The Witches (1966) and pursued his new career in architecture and as a teacher of meditation.

James Mason had just made North by Northwest and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,755

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