Spikeopath The Burglar is directed by Paul Wendkos and adapted to screenplay by David Goodis from his own novel of the same name. It stars Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield, Martha Vickers, Peter Capell, Micky Shaughnessy and Stewart Bradley. Music is by Sol Kaplan and cinematography by Don Malkames.Nat Harbin (Dan Duryea) is the leader of a small gang of crooks who burgle a necklace from the home of a famous spiritualist. One of Nat's gang is Gladden (Mansfield), the daughter of the man who took Nat under his wing when Nat was an orphan. In return Nat has always looked after Gladden. But once the necklace is in their hands, the group begins to come apart, and with outside forces muscling their way in, it's probably not going to end well…It sat on the shelf for two years, where no buyer could be found, but then Jayne Mansfield became one of the "it" girls and The Burglar saw the light of day. Long out of circulation it became a film that noir enthusiasts greatly courted over the years, but now it's widely available was it worth the wait?Well it has proved to be a very divisive entry in the film noir universe. Undoubtedly it has style to burn, director Wendkos has observed some of his film noir peers and dripped their influences all over his movie; and not in a subtle way either. Sweaty close-ups, shock cutting, oblique angled frames and shadow adorned sequences attempt to put oomph in the narrative, while the newsreel opening and amusement park finale scream out that the film wants to be loved by the noir crowd.It's all very neatly constructed, and with Kaplan's bold brassy score laid over the top, it deserves its noir badge. But it does feel like art for arts sake at times, like Wendkos is working over time visually to compensate for a weak screenplay. It becomes evident that it wasn't a great idea to let Goodis adapt from his own novel, it needed a screenplay writer capable of putting more emotional carnage into the characterisations.There is no flow to the story and the actors often look lost and not sure where to take the source material to. Even the ever reliable noir hero Duryea is straining to make his character work, a victim of extraneous nonsense that doesn't seem to serve any purpose to plotting. Mansfield's performance is one of the hot topic divisive points, but I don't see how, it's awkward and her limitations as an actress are evident, no matter how foxy she looks. While Stewart Bradley in a key role just flat out can't act, something that draws some of the sting from the finale.The visual smarts and some nice location photography in Philly and Atlantic City ensure it's not a dead loss, while if you prepare yourself for a character study rather than a pulpy noir pot-boiler then that sets expectation levels correctly. But it's not one to recommend with confidence; even if Marty Scorsese is a fan! 5/10

oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx Henry Hathaway's movie The Black Rose concerns a Saxon squire who travels to China and back again during the Middle Ages encountering marvels, romance and adventures along the way. It's a pretty and fun Technicolor movie containing a soupçon of rapture. On an intellectual level it can be fairly piffling until close to the end when the Norman King of England refuses to persecute the rebel Walter any longer, recognising that his animosity towards Normans is far from treason, but just a political manifestation of something very personal, conflict with his father. It was an eye opener to me at the time, how much Freudian issues play a subliminal part in our politics. This sort of mature perspective is to be found in The Burglar. It represents an opening up, an efflorescence of noir, typical of the late era (Mickey One, Blast of Silence). In noir authority is often an oppressive force, but in The Burglar, there's the suggestion that it's not the authorities and the system that pre-figure our doom, but our upbringing. It's up to you though, there's leeway for you to see it either way. Who's the enemy is it dad or Big Brother? In one scene, seemingly totally unconnected from the rest of the film, Nat (The Burglar - Dan Duryea) mooches around the precincts of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and is seen sitting directly below the statue of John Barry, the first head of the United States Navy, in Independence Square, three miles away, just moments before. In sight is Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The locations are deserted and he's watched over by some sort of passant sculptural beastie and towered over by fluted columns. Are these relics of the past or an overarching system and structure in which he's alternately powerless and hounded or irrelevant? Does the beastie see him, or is it just a charming piece of stone and is the indelible stain of Dad the issue he can't rub off? I saw a film Paul Wendkos made decades later, Hell Boats, and there was a general ambivalence there as well, which I find very stimulating and mature. There are no easy answers to The Burglar. Although I've mentioned Freud, The Burglar isn't one of those annoying movies that are dogmatically Freudian snoozers; the conversations surrounding the past all come off as extremely natural in effect.A little tardily, onto the plot! A bunch of small time burglars figure they can up the ante and go for some sparklers. It doesn't take a genius to work out that fate's cosh is waiting for each of them in the shadows one way or the other. Dan Duryea's lead is the standout, but you gotta feel sorry for Peter Capell's hyperactive pop-eyed lookout Baylock. Scared of his own shadow he dreams of owning a plantation in Central America, he hysterically calls it buying "ground", as if what he stands on the rest of the time is something that might open up and swallow him at any time. It's just so clever how this movie grinds out a noir atmosphere with slight tricks of vocabulary.Even loving this movie with all my heart, I must admit that a relevant criticism for many genre fans wondering if they should watch The Burglar or not is that it lacks thrill in the middle section of the film, principally because Nat has a death wish and isn't putting up much of a fight. Things pick up for the finale on the famous Atlantic City Steel Pier, which comes off as a merging the skews of Lady From Shanghai and Mickey One.Wendkos' film should have lead to a glittering career, but more meretricious aesthetics triumphed.

wmhwilson-1 My Dad, William G. Wilson (not sure if you list him as Bob) filmed many of the shots in the Burglar. I remember seeing it with my folks. Dad also had the bit part as the TV director who says "You're On..." to newscaster John Facenda. Facenda, a Philadelphia legend, is best known as the voice of NFL Films which was born in Philadelphia. Strangely, Lou Kellman created TeleSports Digest which covered college and pro football (as well as other sports) before NFL Films. It's sad when when one searches for this film you get Whoopie's title. This film is fun to watch and my VHS is almost dead. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows where to get a legit copy. Thanks Bill Wilson

telegonus 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.