Money Madness (1948 film)

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Money Madness
Money Madness FilmPoster.jpeg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Sam Newfield
Screenplay byAl Martin
Story byAl Martin
Produced by Sigmund Neufeld
Starring Hugh Beaumont
Frances Rafferty
CinematographyJack Greenhalgh
Edited byHolbrook N. Todd
Music byLeo Erdody
Production
company
Sigmund Neufeld Productions
Distributed by Film Classics
Release date
  • April 15, 1948 (1948-04-15)(United States)
Running time
73 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Money Madness is a 1948 film noir mystery film directed by Sam Newfield starring Hugh Beaumont and Frances Rafferty. [1]

Contents

Plot

Steve Clark (Hugh Beaumont) is on a Los Angeles-bound bus and gets off in a small town en route. In his suitcase he has been carrying loot from a bank robbery; he stashes it in a safety deposit box. He becomes a taxi driver, which leads him to a chance encounter with Julie Saunders (Frances Rafferty), a local woman in her 20s. Julie lives with an elderly, bitter aunt who makes her life miserable. Clark, with his charm and original outlook on life, instantly becomes a ray of sunlight for her, and they quickly marry.

However, Clark soon admits to her that the marriage is part of a plan he has crafted, to help him launder his ill-gotten cash—but it also involves murder and will make Julie an accessory to it, against her will.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

Film critic Dennis Schwartz, while giving the film a mixed review, liked the feature, writing, "A low-grade film noir that has its chilling moments. It opens with Julie Saunders (Frances Rafferty) sentenced to a prison term of ten years for being an accomplice to murder. A flashback is used to show how a sweet girl like Julie could have gotten into such deep trouble ... Beaumont went on to be Ward Cleaver in television's Leave It to Beaver , but here he's great to watch as a sleazeball and sicko killer. It's film where it takes a suspension of belief to get through all the problems built into the implausible plot, but nevertheless the film has a certain insanity kicking in that somehow works to give it an edge." [2]

Production

Ben Winkler served as the sound engineer for the film. [3]

References

  1. ↑ Money Madness at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films .
  2. ↑ Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, April 17, 2005. Accessed: July 11, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Money Madness (1948)". Turner Classic Movies . Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
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