Scott Brady & Mona Freeman in "I Was A Shoplifter" (1950) - feat. Tony Curtis & Rock Hudson

In a large California department store, detectives spot attractive young kleptomaniac Faye Burton (Mona Freeman). Jeff Andrews (Scott Brady), 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 Jeff is also taken into custody. Faye, a wealthy but unhappy judge's daughter, swears she will not steal again, and is released.

Later, Jeff, who is really an undercover Police detective Sergeant trying to break a shoplifting ring, meets with Sheriff E.W. Bascom (Michael Raffetto). Bascom explains that the ring uses only amateur thieves.

Subsequently, at the library where Faye works, a woman named Ina Perdue ( Andrea King) 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 Clara (Nana Bryant), Faye leaves for her meeting and encounters Jeff outside the house.

Upstairs at the club, Ina and her cohort, Barkie Neff (Robert Gist), show Faye a photostat of her confession, and ask Jeff about his connection to Faye. Jeff explains he's interested in joining Ina's operation. Ina checks Jeff's arrest record and is intrigued enough to meet him.

At the pawn shop where Ina works, Jeff learns that the "boosters" (shoplifters) are paid through the shop. After Faye completes her training, she is sent to San Diego, and 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 (Tony Curtis, as Anthony Curtis), 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 (Charles Drake), 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.

A 1950 American Black & White film-noir crime film directed by Charles Lamont, produced by Leonard Goldstein, written by Irwin Gielgud, based on his own story, cinematography by Irving Glassberg, starring Scott Brady, Mona Freeman, Andrea King, Charles Drake, Gregg Martell, Larry Keating, Robert Gist, Michael Raffetto.

Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis both have small parts in this. Tony Curtis plays a Mexican-American hood in a good-sized role, Rock Hudson a store detective in a blink-and-you'll-miss-him role. Curtis and Hudson also appear in supporting roles in "Winchester '73" (1950), starring Jimmy Stewart.

Charles Lamont (1895 – 1993) was an American filmmaker, known for directing over 200 titles and producing and writing many others. Not a great director, but a prolific one, providing rare gems. He directed nine Abbott and Costello comedies and many Ma and Pa Kettle films. He started directing comedy shorts in 1922, including for Mack Sennett and Al Christie. Some of his earliest directorial jobs were silent short-subject Juvenile Comedies, featuring child actor Malcolm "Big Boy" Sebastian, as well as some of the competing "Buster Brown" comedies for Universal Pictures. In 1932 Educational assigned Lamont to the "Baby Burlesk” a series, featuring four-year-old Shirley Temple. He along with his co-conspirators at Educational Pictures were responsible and helped set horrifying ways performers were treated in film before the invention of the Hays Code. By 1934 Lamont was Educational's top director, and he collaborated on most of Buster Keaton's 16 Educational shorts. His last film was the final Francis the Talking Mule comedy, "Francis in the Haunted House" (1956).

A relatively low-budget, excellent, but predictable, strong pace, crime B-Movie. It may not be a classic, but it's a highly entertaining, well written, well staged action, never dull in this delightfully enjoyable little movie.