Money Madness (1948)

Wow, this one is certainly a candidate for restoration.. the sound and picture quality are just terrible. Hugh Beaumont is "Steve", a crook on the run from "something"... we're not sure just what. Beaumont was the Dad on Leave it to Beaver. Steve meets up with "Julie", (Frances Rafferty) who ALSO has a past of her own. They hit it off, and that's when the trouble begins! Dick Elliot is in here as a customer in the diner... Elliot was the town mayor in Andy Griffith. Gumming up the works is Julie's elderly aunt, who sometimes fakes being ill to get attention, but sometimes really is sick. Dealing with that brings out the worst in both Julie AND Steve, so it's going to hit the fan fast! Another fun face in here is "Mrs. Ferguson"... Ida Moore. She was ALWAYS a little old lady... she had a great, tiny little part in Desk Set! (Gotta see that if you haven't already) Money Madness flows right along, no plot-holes, or glaring problems. Not many big names, which is probably why its playing on Moonlight Movies channel. Beaumont had done a bunch of war films in the 1940s, and more in the 1950s, but he's probably the biggest name in here. Directed by Sam Newfield.. he and his brother Sigmund were bigshots in "the biz", and they turned out TONS of films, starting in the silent shorts. This one is actually pretty good.

While this film has a few minor issues, it's a generally well made film noir picture and provides a wonderful opportunity to see Hugh Beaumont (the father on "Leave it to Beaver") playing a cold-blooded monster!When the film begins, Steve Clark (Beaumont) blows into a new town and gets a job as a cab driver. In one of his first fares, he has an annoying drunk sexual harasser who is out on a date with a nice girl who is refusing his advances. Julie (Frances Rafferty) is thrilled with the cab driver intervenes and he looks like a really nice guy. And, through much of the film Steve appears to be a real sweetheart. However, underneath this veneer is a real sociopath and by the time the film's over, he's terrorized sweet Julie as well as killed a couple folks...and is about to kill more!!The best thing about the film is Beaumont's performance. He is creepy and very convincing. Unfortunately, Rafferty is not very good and much of it could be the writing...as her character is too weak and a bit stupid. Plus, she believes that because she's married Steve that she cannot legally testify against him...which is NOT the case. She could not be COMPELLED to testify against him if she didn't want to...and there is also question as to whether or not they are actually married. Still, a very enjoyable film...one that I would strongly recommend to noir fans.

The story is told in flashback as Julie Clark (Frances Rafferty) is sentenced to 10 years and a reporter quips "you never know who will come along on the noon bus"!!! Like Sam Clark - he got off the noon bus eager to get a safety deposit box to stash $200,000, courtesy of a bank robbery and a too trusting partner. While driving a taxi he rescues Julie from a drunken date and she is exactly what he has ordered!! An unhappy waitress who lives with her dominating Aunt Cora, you know, the type who conveniently have a bad turn whenever they don't get their way!! Steve has ingratiated himself into their home, overhears words, enough for him to realise that with the aunt out of the way Julie would come into a nice inheritance.Hugh Beaumont, even though he ended up as father to America's favourite kid brother in "Leave It To Beaver", had a varied career in the 1940s playing everything from Michael Shayne in a series of P.R.C. films and more interestingly a couple of oddball characters - a murderous husband in "The Lady Confesses", a money mad psycho in "Money Mad" and "Apology For Murder" a sort of "Double Indemnity" on the cheap. The characters worked so well because he looked like such a regular good natured guy but behind a door or in the shadows - watch out!!!Steve and Julie marry but through circumstances (contrived by Steve involving a non existent first wife) find themselves back at Aunt Cora's again: Julie acting fed up and irritated, Steve like an ideal husband but behind that façade making sure Aunt Cora will not have a long life. He plans to plant the $200,000 in the house and when the Aunt does die (from poison he is putting in her coffee), surprise! surprise! it will soon be known that the eccentric Cora didn't believe in banks!! Julie has already discovered Steve is a homicidal maniac (that's what he is called on the blurb on the back of the DVD!!) but is forced to go along with his murderous scheme as he is also psychotically fixated on her as well ("no one can take anything away from me - including you!!"). That is because lawyer Donald whom Julie has gone to regarding probate etc, can tell by her jittery mannerisms that something is not quite right with her and he decides to do some investigating. Meanwhile Steve's disgruntled partner comes looking for him and the money - the radio is turned up loud, then boom!!!Did the writers forget the beginning by the time they got to the end or did that realise that it would be hard for an attorney to convince a jury that preppy looking Frances Rafferty could actually be a willing participant in the preceding mayhem!! Rafferty, who looked like she would really have fitted into a 1950s family TV show ("Father Knows Best", "The Donna Reed Show") was contracted to MGM in the 1940s but didn't rise above the bland ingénue - "Money Madness" may have given her her meatiest role.

Constantly underrated Hugh Beaumont puts in a memorable performance as a chilling sociopathic murderer. Soon after he arrives in a small town carrying the proceeds of a recent bank robbery, he finds a vulnerable young woman (Frances Rafferty) and charms her into marriage. He quickly embarks on his nefarious schemes to better himself by arranging for the girl to inherit her Aunt's house and estate by killing the old lady. He continues to terrify and control the girl until she is entirely caught up in his web of murder and deceit and her own character becomes irredeemably compromised as an accessory to his crimes. Beaumont is outstanding and truly menacing as the killer, but he was equally adept at playing the playful and flirtatious, wisecracking hero as in his Mike Shayne films. There is a very natural delivery to his acting which always makes him believable...he seems to embody his roles so effortlessly that it hardly seems he is acting. This is a rare talent that few performers in films have had. For some reason, he never got to be A-list but his talent certainly deserved more recognition. Recommended.