I Was a Shoplifter
Cast & Crew
Charles Lamont
Scott Brady
Mona Freeman
Andrea King
Anthony Curtis
Charles Drake
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In a large California department store, detectives spot attractive young kleptomaniac Faye Burton. Jeff Andrews, another shopper, warns Faye that she is being watched, but she pretends not to understand him and continues her thefts. Shortly afterward, she is apprehended by the detectives, and moments later, Jeff is also taken into custody for shoplifting. Faye, who is a judge's daughter, swears that she will not steal again, and is released after she signs a confession. Before she leaves, the officials warn her that she will go to prison if she is caught stealing again. Later, Jeff, who is really an undercover operator trying to break a shoplifting ring, meets with Sheriff Bascom. Bascom explains that the ring uses only amateur thieves, who know nothing about the operation, and drops them if they are arrested. He believes that someone working with store security is allied with the ring and tips them when an amateur has been apprehended. Jeff then suggests that they follow Faye in case she is contacted by the ring. Subsequently, at the library where Faye works, a woman named Ina Perdue offers to return her confession if she comes to the Casa del Mar nightclub, and the conversation is overheard by another operative. That night, after a quarrel with her aunt, Faye leaves for her meeting and encounters Jeff outside the house. He offers to accompany her, and because she is afraid, she agrees. Upstairs at the club, Ina and her cohort, Barkie Neff, show Faye a photostat of her confession. Ina then has Jeff brought upstairs and asks about his connection to Faye. Jeff explains that he is interested in joining Ina's operation, even though she does not usually work with professionals. While Faye is instructed in shoplifting techniques, Ina checks Jeff's arrest record and is intrigued enough to meet him the next day. At the pawn shop where Ina works, Jeff learns that the "boosters," as shoplifters are called, are paid through the shop. After Faye completes her training, she is sent to San Diego, where she is expected to steal a list of items from a specific store. When the distraught Faye tells Jeff about her assignment, he offers to steal the things for her. They meet later in San Diego. While Jeff is in a nearby cabin, Pepe, Ina's hired killer, attempts to rape Faye. Watched by Pepe, she runs into the ocean, intending to kill herself, but is rescued by Jeff. The next morning, Jeff tells Faye that he is working undercover, and she agrees to complete her assignment. Meanwhile, Ina's gang is informed about Jeff's role by their department store contact. When Faye arrives at the warehouse drop-off with the stolen items, the gang takes her hostage. Outside, Jeff waits with other officers for Faye to leave before moving to arrest the gang with the stolen goods. When Jeff realizes that Faye has been kidnapped, he chases Ina's car to the border. Bascom, however, refuses to arrest the gang because he is hoping that they will lead him to their headquarters. In Mexico, the stolen items are about to be auctioned, when Pepe spots Jeff, and a fight breaks out. Ina, Pepe and the others are arrested during a raid. Jeff and Bascom then offer them lenient sentences if they will reveal their contact, but they remain silent. Despite this, Herb Klaxon, the crooked security guard, is exposed when he attempts to run away. He explains that he fell in love with Ina after he caught her shoplifting and cooperated with the gang for that reason. Now that the shoplifters are headed for prison, Jeff gives a diamond ring to Faye, with whom he has fallen in love.
Director
Charles Lamont
Cast
Scott Brady
Mona Freeman
Andrea King
Anthony Curtis
Charles Drake
Gregg Martell
Larry Keating
Robert Gist
Michael Raffetto
Rock Hudson
Charles Watts
Nestor Paiva
Paul Fierro
Crew
Howard Banks
Everett Brown
Leslie I. Carey
Sherman Clark
Robert Clatworthy
Ruby Felker
Russell A. Gausman
Irwin Gielgud
Irving Glassberg
Leonard Goldstein
Bernard Herzbrun
Jesse Hibbs
David S. Horsley
Dorothy Hughes
Jack Keran
Norton Kurland
Ruby R. Levitt
George Lollier
Otto Ludwig
Kyme Meade
Rosemary Odell
Robert Pritchard
Milton Schwarzwald
Joan St. Oegger
Dewey Starkey
Bud Westmore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's working title was Shoplifter. It begins with a voice-over narration stating that shoplifting costs stores $100 million every year. The narration adds that nine of ten shoplifters are women, and ten percent are professionals. Drug users account for most of the loss, according to the narrator. An October 1949 Hollywood Reporter news item notes that Andrea King replaced Alexis Smith in the lead role. On April 30, 1950, New York Times reported that the film had been banned in Atlanta, GA because censor Christine Smith deemed it a "course in shoplifting." Nothing in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library confirms this, but a letter dated October 25, 1949 from censor William Gordon to PCA director Joseph I. Breen states: "We still have considerable apprehension over the details of shoplifiting. This concern is particularly brought about by the action...showing the operation of the Booster box and the use of the Booster bloomers....You will remember the Code prohibits the showing of details of crime which can be easily imitated."
