Hamilton’s A Touch of Larceny is a comic adaptation of Andrew Garve’s noirish novel about adultery and betrayal, The Megstone Plot.
Commander Max Easton, the protagonist, is a British naval intelligence officer who fakes spying for the Soviets. Easton plans to hide out on some uninhabited rocky island and wait until he’s accused of treason in the tabloid press, then returns and sues for libel. He’s also betting he can turn Virginia Killian’s affections his way. She’s the fiancé of an old acquaintance Charles Holland, but she’s impressed that Easton would risk his reputation for her and tacitly agrees to help him promise notoriety and money.
Garve’s novel is a dark tale of adultery and betrayal. Easton and Killian, who are married, are engaged in a serious affair when they concoct the plan for the “marooning” to get money. It is a premeditated crime. The Megstone is a barren rock that gives the novel its name, and its rugged features foretell that Easton’s plan will not be the success he hoped for. On his return, plans go awry, Killian betrays him, and he must flee the police. “It cost me friends, career, and reputation. The price was high,” Easton admits with chagrin.
Hamilton’s picnic-scam hums with blithe humor. Easton splurges in style, making on a rocky islet a posh getaway furnished with a tent and a lounge chair, charcoal grill, whisky, gin, wine, and champagne. He even has a charcoal grill and fuel for cooking. (n Garve’s humorless narrative, Easton’s picnic adventure is frugal. He dines modestly on bread, cheese, bacon, sausages, tinned meats, chocolate, and biscuits.
Nearing the end of his intended time on the island, Easton ditches his gear until he is genuinely marooned and mildly suffering (very mildly) until rescued by the police, who are intently searching for him. With Killian’s help, he escapes arrest. And when his hoax is revealed, he sells his story anyway. With notoriety and money, Killian dumps her fiancé and hooks up with Easton.
As the title suggests, it’s only a touch of larceny. All pretend and funny.
* Paul Winterton, under the name Andrew Garve, is the author of The Megstone Plot.
The cast: James Mason as Max Easton; Vera Miles as Virginia Killian; George Sanders as Charles Holland
See Guy Hamilton. A Touch of Larceny (1960). The screenplay by Roger MacDougall, Ivan Foxwell, and Guy Hamilton is based on Andrew Garve’s The Megstone Plot; Paul Winterton [Andrew Garve] The Megstone Plot. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956.