zardoz-13 Director Paul Wenkos' first film "The Burglar" (1957) was based on the David Goodis novel of the same name, and Goodis penned the screenplay, too. This grim, gritty, black & white suspense thriller starts out strongly but then degenerates into a lackluster crime-doesn't-pay yarn. A gang of thieves break into a wealthy spiritualist's mansion in Philadelphia late one evening and steals a priceless necklace. The thief who enters the second floor of the mansion to crack a wall safe and make away with the goods is Nate Harbin (Dan Duryea of "Black Bart"), the kind of sort of leader of a gang of two other hoodlums—Baylock (Peter Capell of "Son of Hitler") and Dohmer (Mickey Shaughnessy of "From Here to Eternity")—and a young woman Gladden (Jayne Mansfield of "Female Jungle") who he has known all his life. Ironically, Nate and Gladden were orphans both raised by a compassionate thief, Gerald (one-time-only actor Sam Elber) who has made Nate swear that he will always look after Gladden. Nate sends Gladden in to case the place, and Sister Sara (Phoebe Mackay of "Splendor in the Grass") gives her the grand tour. The night that the guys went to Sister Sara's mansion, they parked their jalopy along the highway. Two uniformed officers in a prowl car stop to check out the abandoned vehicle. Fearless Nate pauses in the middle of cracking the safe, leaves the premises, and walks back to the two cops standing by his ride. Nate complains audaciously about the shortage of mechanics up at that time in the evening. The two cops believe Nate's story about his car stalling out, so they let him sleep in the back seat until dawn. Stealthily, Nate returns to the mansion, opens the safe, and snatches the diamonds. Unfortunately, after he rifled the wall safe, Nate forgets to close it. Later, not long after Nate and his accomplices have left, Sister Sara discovers that she has been burglarized because Nate left the safe door ajar.Worse, unknown to Nate, one of the two policemen who questioned him about his car parked along the side of the highway is the corrupt cop who takes the necklace off his hands. At one point, Nate and his accomplices pull up stakes and head to Atlantic City. Charlie(Stewart Bradley) is hot on their trail, and he has been dating Gladden secretly before the guys arrive. Things get really tense after Nate learns about Charlie and Gladden.Wendkos confines this thriller to a mere 90 minutes, but the momentum breaks down after the initial robbery and the period when the thieves lay low to avoid arrest. Wendkos's "The Burglar" inspired director Henri Verneuil's French remake with Omar Sharif and Jean-Paul Belmondo entitled "The Burglars." "The Burglar" suffers from a bummer of an ending, while it's remake is a lot more fun.

bravo78 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

Alonzo Church A showy medium has a set of fancy jewels. Dan Duryea, THE BURGLAR, intends to steal them with the help of gang member Jayne Mansfield. Will the stresses and strains of the criminal lifestyle wreck their lives, or will the gang finally make the big score that will let them all retire? This is one of those movies, following in the wake of the Asphalt Jungle, that shows how the tiny character flaws of the criminals involved in a caper all work to mess up their enterprise. If you like the genre, you'll like this. If you are not a noir/crime movie enthusiast, you might determine that all this seems pretty derivative from better movies. The director has definitely seen his Orson Welles movies (Citizen Kane and Lady from Shanghai are sampled here), but he only has a B-movie plot to drive the action. Later in the movie, this becomes a problem when the mechanics of inevitable doom require Duryea to show an implausible lack of judgment.Nevertheless, Dan Duryea, who plays his role without an ounce of his usual scuzzy smarm, responds quite well to being cast somewhat against type. Jayne Mansfield, who had not yet developed her inflatable sex doll persona (this movie was shot well before Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?), does well with a fairly nuanced part that makes use of her looks, but does not require her to be either stupid or sleazy. The movie, when not being overly showy with its visuals, gets in some great location shooting in both Philadlphia and Atlantic City.This is worth seeing, if you like crime movies. But you will get the feeling there was a lot of potential that went unfulfilled here.

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