Must See Movie...

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A Major Disappointment

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The Burglar fits the bill for film noir. But it also proves that film noir can be quite average. The movie starts in quick. An 'organization' of burglars plan and pull off a heist to steal a valuable necklace from a 'spiritualist'- aka con artist in Philadelphia. Unfortunately Act II consists of the waiting. And the angst. Gawd, the angst. And this is where things start to fall apart. Watching the crooks go stir crazy while holed up waiting for the heat to die down is simply not compelling. Mansfield fits the bill as eye candy but puts in some deplorable acting. Capell's character has a monologue about moving to South America that goes on much too long. And Duryea plays his character like a deer in the headlights. He knows he should move but can't seem to take action. But finally a decision is made to pull up stakes - to Atlantic City. There's even a car chase.And something in the water in Atlantic City seemed to have changed director Paul Wendkos into Orson Welles. I had to check the credits to see if Welles was listed. (he's not). Heavy Welles influence ensues and were treated to a fairly solid close. The plot is tight and comes with a twist. Vickers femme fatale role falls flat, what with sharing angst with Duryea's character and all. Though I'm sensing without the Hayes code they might have been free to share something besides angst. Duryea is solid but his character was poorly written.The Burglars is not a great film noir movie but is a passable entry into the genre. 6/10

***SPOILER*** Comes across the screen much like the Orson Wells' 1948 Film Nior classic "The Lady from Shanghai" the film "The Burgler" has to do with a jewel or diamond necklace robbery that goes wrong in the robbers not being able to fence the stolen and expensive merchandise. Having to lay low until he heat's off head burglar Nat Harbin, Dan Duryea, has to placate his two associates Baylock & Dohmer, Peter Capell & Mickey Shaughnessy, in not going off the handle and mess up the entire operation. There's also Nat's half-sister Gladden, Jayne Mansfield, who want's to get out of this criminal racket and spend her time on the beach at Atlantic City and get a nice tan as well as fill her very ample lungs with the fresh and healthy salt water air that's there.What the gang of burglars don't realize is that they've been tagged or figured out by Charlie the Cop, Stewart Bardley, who was on the scene of crime and is now intent to get the piece of hot ice or jewelry off their hands. Tracking the quartet from their home base in Philadelphia to the seaside town of Atlantic City Charlie and his girlfriend Della, Martha Vickes, plan to rob them of the necklace before they can get it, by having the necklace fenced, off their hands. Charlie feels in that him being a member of law enforcement he can murder the entire bunch and still get away with it by claiming self-defense on his part.***SPOILERS*** With Nat hiding the necklace in Gladden's hotel room in the Oceanview Hotel in Atlantic City Charlie who's been romancing her in order to find it now has no choice but to keep Nat as well as Gladden alive in order for them to lead him to it. Wih Dohmer gunned down by state dropper's and Baylock murdered by Charlie it's now down to three, Charlie Gadden & Nat, who know where the necklace is and with the exception of Gladden, who's far more interested in getting a suntan, are determined at all cost to find it. Downbeat ending with Nat risking and losing his life in having his step-sister Gladden get out of harms or Charlie's way. Charlie himself who thought he's gotten away with murder, the murder of both Baylock and Nat, ends up cuffed and with his jaw broken when his girlfriend Della, who he's been cheating on, ratted him out in him having the stolen necklace on him just when it looked like he was home free.

This is one of those extravagantly stylized late-period noirs, one which palpitates with flamboyant cinematic technique. It belongs in the same club as those other exaggerated, self-consciously arty noirs of the late 50s/early 60s, like Touch of Evil, Kiss Me Deadly, Blast of Silence and Sam Fuller's contemporaneous contributions to the genre. Wendkos directs like a recent A+ film school graduate showing off every Hitchcock and Welles trick he's learned -- there are many stunning edits (he is also credited as the film's editor), several strikingly composed shots, and a suitably seedy background (the fact that the crooks' hideout is right next to a railway line full of speeding streamliners is a boon). At the same time, he toes the studio line of narrative clarity and cohesive action scenes enough to make this suitable viewing for the non-buff (one can see why he spent most of his years in television, but at the same time could dazzle with over-the-top effects in The Mephisto Waltz.) Fans of Atlantic City's Steel Pier are in for a treat in the film's climax (which owes a bit too much to The Lady from Shanghai) -- we even get to see the diving horse. But notably, we also see the soggy marshes that border the city and reflect the protagonists' own situational quagmire. It may not have the integrity of the more subtly devastating noirs of the Siodmak 40s, but it has its own postmodern tradition to uphold. It's worth picking this one up even on the third-generation dupes that are now in circulation; a wide-screen dvd restoration is definitely in order.

I saw this film a long time ago and was tremendously impressed, almost hynotized, by its technique. It was directed by Paul Wendkos, who's since gone on to a successful career in television, but who was for a while considered an up and coming director of movies. The stars, Dan Duryea and Jayne Mansfield, never quite achieved the kind of success many had envisioned for them. Duryea's career was sidetracked by Richard Widmark, and Mansfield never replaced Marilyn Monroe. Part of the charm of this film is watching small timers play small timers in a small movie that didn't cost a lot of money and which few people saw or want to see because no one connected with it is famous (though Jayne has her fans I guess). To make matters worse, the film is arty, full of offbeat camera angles and strange lighting that sometimes makes people look startled, as if they're continually having their picture taken. It's a tawdry tale about little people with big problems, and it works. For all I know it could be a work of art. The story is mostly about a jewel robbery, but it's also about the strange, almost incestuous relationship between Dan and Jayne, which both does and doesn't have a whole lot to do with jewels. There is a very bad guy involved who comes across like a young Senator Joe McCarthy. There are scenes in an amusement park; and more scenes in an empty stadium. I'm not sure why. The films is dazzling and ambitious and pretentious, so much so that it's beyond mere film noir as such; it's more like art noir.