Undescribable Perfection

So much average

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"Man in the Vault" was produced by John Wayne's Batjac company and was directed by up and coming director Andrew V. McLaglan.Small time crook Willis Trent (Barry Kroeger) has a plan. With the help of his womanizing lawyer Earl Faraday (Robert Keys) and gofer Herbie (Paul Fix), Trent hopes to break into the safe deposit box of gangster Paul DeCamp (James Seay) and steal the $200,000 therein. to accomplish this, he needs the service of a reliable locksmith.Herbie provides Trent with the name of Tommy Dancer (William Campbell) who had just done some work for him. Trent begins to stalk Dancer to the point of showing up at the bowling alley where he is bowling. He lures Dancer to his home to open a foot locker. There just happens to be a party going on at the time. Young , rich and spoiled Betty Turner (Karen Sharpe) shows up looking for Faraday who is playing up to DeCamp's girlfriend Flo (Anita Ekberg.). She becomes angry and storms out.As he is leaving the party, Dancer strikes up a friendship with Betty. Later Trent offers Dancer $5,000 to make keys to break into DeCamp's safe deposit box. He refuses. After being worked over by Louie (Mike Mazurki), Trent's body guard, he reluctantly agrees. He makes the keys but is approached by Herbie to steal the $200,000 and split the proceeds. Dancer refuses and takes the money for himself..Realizing that Dancer has the money, Trent begins to apply pressure. He threatens to kill Betty if the money is not brought to him. Meanwhile as Dancer goes to retrieve the loot from his locker at the bowling alley, Herbie begins to stalk him. Dancer escapes and Herbie is arrested by the police after Dancer set off the burglar alarm.Before Dancer can reach Trent with the money, DeCamp enters the picture and.....................................................................................Many familiar faces from the "John Wayne Stock Company" appear in this film. First there is Director McLaglan the son of Wayne's long time friend Victor McLaglan. Paul Fix, Mike Mazurki, Karen Sharpe and Pedro Gonzolez-Gonzolez who plays Pedro the bowling alley pin boy and James Mitchum brother of Robert were also under contract to Batjac.The bowling alley sequence where Campbell tries to elude Fix is very well done and creates an atmospheric sort of suspense. The ending leaves a few unanswered questions such as what happens to Dancer, who actually did rob the bank and Betty Turner who is also taken away for questioning.Anita Ekberg whose star was rising at the time has little to do except look voluptuous and Karen Sharpe, long one of my favorites has an early leading role and looks just marvelous.

William Campbell, in my youth, appeared on a TV show called Cannonball that had a very catchy theme song. So catchy that we made up new lyrics to it that were about our school principle.He has several other distinctions, some as an actor, and he earned his place in the JFK saga by being married to one of JFK's girlfriends, Judith Campbell Exner.Campbell plays a locksmith, Tommy Dancer. He often hangs out at a bowling alley. One night he meets a man, Willis Trent (Berry Kroeger) who invites him to a party. After we hear the song "Let the Chips Fall Where They May" sung by Viviane Lloyd, Dancer meets Betty Turner (Karen Sharpe). They begin dating.Tommy is offered a job for $5000 if he will rent a safe deposit box, and while in the vault, make impressions for two keys to box 315. He doesn't know it at the time, but the box has $200,000 in it that Trent wants stolen. He refuses to do it until Mike Mazurki beats him up and then Betty is threatened. In a suspenseful scene, he makes impressions of the keys.Then he finds out about the money from a man named Herbie (Paul Fix) tips him off about the money and suggests that they split it.Familiar faces here, including Fix, Kroeger, Mazurki, and of course Campbell. Karen Sharpe, who played Betty, married Stanley Kramer and became a producer as well as an actress. Anita Ekberg, looking gorgeous, is on hand as Earl Farraday's (Robert Keys) girlfriend - it's Farraday who owns the safe deposit box.Despite the film being low budget, there are several interesting things about it. First, being low budget, it's filmed on the streets of Los Angeles. The sections they were in were familiar to me and made it so much fun, seeing a large Rexall Drugs, Dutch Paint, the whole ambiance of old Hollywood.The other thing is one starts to notice keys everywhere. Dancer works in a key-making establishment. He's called on by Trent to open a trunk, so he makes an impression of the lock; he makes keys for the safe deposit box, later he uses the keys to get into it - he is constantly using keys. Finally you're noticing them every time he pulls one out.Lastly, parts of the film are very Hitchcockian - one is the ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances; the other is danger in landmarks or familiar places not known for danger, as Dancer first escapes being hit by a bowling ball and then attempts escape by traversing pin-setting machines. Really terrific. Unfortunately, today we're all too familiar with danger in familiar places.Not bad for a low budget film.

A tough choice for nice-guy assistant locksmith Tommy Dancer: to continue plodding on with his $80/week, go-nowhere job, OR to give in to the demands of petty hood Willis Trent, and get paid $5,000 for using his skills to break into the safety-deposit box of top-dog criminal De Camp and steal $200,000. This ethical conundrum becomes a no-brainer, however, when Trent turns the screws by kidnapping and threatening Tommy's newest girlfriend, Betty Turner. Anyway, that's the setup for Andrew V. McLaglen's "Man in the Vault," a compact little film noir from 1956 that, despite its "B movie" status--and despite the "Maltin Film Guide"'s assertion that it is "drab" and only deserving of one of its lowest ratings--still offers much. Though surely made on the cheap, the film looks just fine, and features at least two highly suspenseful sequences: the heist that Tommy carries out inside a crowded bank, and a nighttime game of cat and mouse between Tommy and one of Trent's thugs inside a deserted bowling alley. Plus, with a running time of only 73 minutes, the picture is lean and fast moving, with little in the way of flab (excepting, perhaps, that three-minute song "Let the Chips Fall Where They May," warbled by a chantootsie early on at Trent's house party).And then there is the film's single best element: a surprisingly excellent performance by William Campbell as Tommy Dancer, who does indeed get to "dance" all over L.A. while embroiled in this film's shenanigans. Campbell, who is perhaps best known for his appearances in three "Star Trek" episodes (as Trelane in "The Squire of Gothos" and the wimpiest Klingon ever, Koloth, in "The Trouble With Tribbles," both from the original series, and then toughening up Koloth considerably, many years later, in "Deep Space 9"'s "Blood Oath"), is immensely likable and sympathetic here. The late actor (he passed away on 4/28/11, at the age of 84) easily carries this film. Karen Sharpe (not to be confused with Karen Steele, as I did going in) is cute and appealing as Betty, Berry Kroeger is memorable as the smarmy Trent, and former heavyweight wrestler Mike Mazurki adds his always welcome, menacing presence. Oh...how could I forget the main reason for my rental of this film in the first place: Anita Ekberg, Miss Sweden 1951, playing the part of De Camp's moll, Flo Brant? Sadly, Anita is only given perhaps 10 minutes of screen time in all to make an impression, but looks so stunning that, yes, an impression is most certainly made. Anita would have to wait another four years before really making the world sit up and take notice, in 1960's "La Dolce Vita," but is still fairly riveting here, despite her small part. Throw in some nice location photography of 1950s Los Angeles (including the Hollywood Bowl and Hollywood Blvd., replete with a Rexall Drugstore!), some well-done, naturalistic dialogue, efficient direction from McLaglen and a highly satisfactory denouement and you've got a little film that's a lot more than merely "drab"!

The mobster Willis Trent (Berry Kroger) is informed by one of his gangsters that the locksmith Tommy Dancer (William Campbell) is efficient and fast in his work. Willis befriends Tommy in a bowling alley and invites him to open a trunk at his home. Tommy accepts the job and then he is invited by Willis to stay in a party at his house, where he meets the wealthy Betty Turner (Karen Sharpe). Later they go to his place and Betty forgets her stole when she goes home. On the next morning, Tommy returns the fur to Betty and they date at night. Then Willis offers five thousand dollars to Tommy to make the keys of the safe deposit box no. 315 in the Hollywood Bank that belongs to the rival criminal and head of gambling Paul De Camp (James Seay) and has two hundred thousand dollars of illegal money. Tommy turns down the offer, but Willis threatens to harm Betty's face to achieve his goal."Man in the Vault" is a good film-noir but unfortunately the moralist ending ruins the story. The romance between Tommy and Betty is dated, but acceptable for a movie of the 50's. But the conclusion with Tommy giving the stolen money to a police officer is ridiculous even in those years. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Domínio dos Homens Sem Lei" ("Domain of the Men Without Law")