Money Madness (1948)

Money Madness (1948). 1h 13m | Approved

“Hugh Beaumont — suffering from MONEY MADNESS — and a variety of other pathologies, runs to a small town and romances a small town girl to put in motion his unique (and ingenious) plot to launder his stolen 200 grand. How many people will he have to murder before law or fate catch up with him?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThough this is forgotten by everyone except the rare brave few who go and seek out the B-minus classics issued by PRC and, um, u0026quot;Film Classicsu0026quot; – this filmu0026#39;s distributor — Hugh Beaumont, before he was father to the Beaver, acted in a fair number of minor film noirs, where he tended to play cops, detectives, and the occasional murderer. In this one, Beaumont brings his trademark likability, and family man charm to the role of a deceptive, conniving creep, on the run from the cops, and his co-conspirators in a successful bank job. And this movie turns on his unshowy but quite strong performance, as the plot depends on him being able to pretend to be u0026quot;Wardu0026quot; just long enough to get the heroine into his clutches, and then depends on him being the sort of Ward Cleaver that David Lynch might have used, had he got his hands on the Leave It To Beaver franchise.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s cheap — and the last plot twist is a bit much to take — but itu0026#39;s always good to see an actor use his skills for something heu0026#39;s not usually known for, and succeed. There was more to Hugh Beaumont than his film/TV career really let him show, and this movie is a prime exhibit.”