Burglar Nat Harbin and his two associates set their sights on wealthy spiritualist Sister Sarah, who has inherited a fortune -- including a renowned emerald necklace -- from a Philadelphia financier. Using Nat's female ward, Gladden, to pose as an admirer and case the mansion where the woman lives, they set up a perfect break-in. Things get complicated afterwards.
Le Cambrioleur, Lo scassinatore, Honor de ladrón, Взломщик, Ein Toter lügt nicht, 义盗娇娃, Honra de Ladrão, El lladre, Inbrottstjuven
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Ireland18
Italy
Ireland
Italy
USA
In a recent chapter in these chronicles, I expressed disappointment in Nightfall, adapted from a David Goodis novel. This experience reminded me that I had seen and liked The Burglar, another Goodis adaptation with a screenplay by the writer himself, though I could remember little about it. So I watched it again and was shocked by how good it is, a nearly perfect existential noir, demonstrating why the French have been so fond of the genre.
Nat Harbin (Dan Duryea) learns from a newsreel of the presence of a priceless emerald necklace in a Philadelphia mansion and sends his ward, Gladden (Jayne Mansfield), to case the joint. Then Nat and fellow thieves Baylock (Peter Capell) and Dohmer (Mickey Shaughnessy) steal…
David Goodis is one of the Minor Prophets of Noir. Paul Wendkos’ adaptation does Goodis justice with a mixture Actor’s Studio Stanley Kowalksi-style acting and Noir camera moves, musical cues and casting. Shadowy burglars, great heist scenes, a gritty lair. Shabbily clever camerawork and editing. Kinetic, jarring quick cuts, exaggerated to the point of stylization. A workingman’s Third Man. Two expressionistic and thrilling set pieces bracket an existential middle. The a nice Atlantic City time-capsule that reminded me of the Coney Island we see in Harold Llodyd’s Speedy (1928).
"The Burglar" is pretty suspenseful for kind of a disjointed film. There have been other films that have been seamlessly assembled and slickly produced that don't have the inventive action and suspense this film generates. I'd attribute it to the strangeness of the dynamics between the characters and the overall pieced together quality of the plot which from the opening scene of a newsreel footage of a spiritualist telling the movie audience, of which Dan Duryea is a member, how she convinced a wealthy financier to donate to her hundreds of thousands in property and one diamond encrusted emerald necklace, a trinket that's at the center of this bizarre film, kind of like the black bird statuette was in the…
A small time crew deals with the aftermath of pulling off a big job. A lot of great Philly and Atlantic City locations in this one. Wish I could go back to either of those cities. And Jayne Mansfield Va-va-voom!!
A nice little noir written by David Goodis (Dark Passage. Shoot the Piano Player). A thief (Dan Duryea) and his crew (including Jayne Mansfield) steal a necklace in Philadelphia. Duryea wants them all to stay holed up for a while till it cools off. Problem is, the others don't think so and with Jayne Mansfield cooped up with them, things heat up. Duryea sends her off to Atlantic City, but there are some others, besides the cops, looking for them and the necklace. The movie is a little too long perhaps, but a really neat show with Duryea turning in a solid performance.
P.S. All Columbia Noirs go off Criterion Channel on June 30th.
Uma obra de arte significativa ou funda o gênero ou o transcende, e numa obra de arte perfeita as duas coisas se fundem numa só.
— Walter Benjamin, Origem do drama trágico alemão
Eu chamaria de barroco a fase final de toda arte quando esta exibe e dilapida seus meios.
— Jorge Luis Borges
O primeiro filme do Wendkos é o oposto do que Benjamin descreve (não funda o gênero nem o transcende, ainda que provavelmente o sepulte mais ou menos na mesma altura em que Welles fez Touch of Evil) e a sua relação com o barroco como definido por Borges faz pensar mais no que Hellman fez com Flight to Fury, Ride in the Whirlwind e The Shooting…
More or less standard affair but well directed by Wendkos on debut plus there's Dan Duryea and good amount of grittiness, location work to keep things engaging. Also obviously you get to look at Jayne Mansfield.
Adapted from a novel, this twisty-double-cross style caper film featuring a trio of sweaty-doomed thieving professionals led by Dan Duryea and featuring a young Jayne Mansfield ends up in....a pretty conventional place, actually, for this sort of picture, but the level of craft is good enough that I didn't really care--there's a lot of beautiful shots here, and the climax in particular, with shadowed figures prowling the overly-large carnival environments while clown masks gape in the background and voices cackle 'We the Dead Welcome You' feels almost.....profound. Who needs subtext, at that point?
(Also, it feels a little strange to acknowledge, but Jayne Mansfield is one of those figures who I'm more familiar with as a cultural presence despite not,…
The Burglar is the feature directorial debut of Paul Wendkos, a then-documentary filmmaker who’d go onto a long career in film and TV (he directed the pilot of Hawaii Five-0, among other things). He described the film as “experimental” and “ambitious,” and reportedly shot 150,000 feet of film, despite it being an independent production without a lot of money to throw around.
I share this background because it makes the movie’s flaws a lot more understandable, particularly the huge gaps in character that suggest explanations were shot but not included. For example, it’s never clear why Dan Duryea’s titular criminal (his name is Nat) is so strange with his adoptive sister Gladden (Jayne Mansfield) who is clearly in love with him, and…
Dan Duryea is the taciturn title character in this brooding, expressionist crime film, ambitiously if not always coherently directed by first-timer Paul Wendkos, who knows when to throw in a stunning POV shot, but may have seen Gun Crazy once too often.
The first half is objectively fascinating rather than terribly entertaining – talky, baggy, claustrophobic, with big performances and barely relevant location footage – but the second is both, and features some notably fine character work from Martha Vickers, whose conflicted moll is as unpredictable as the story.
Jayne Mansfield is also effective (and pneumatic) in a key early credit as the hero’s unhappy, smitten charge, though Duryea’s performance is some way off his best: it’s the actor rather…
50-year-old Dan Duryea plays a 35-year-old thief & he unwittingly gets Jayne Mansfield AND Martha Vickers to fall in love with him. You love to see it!
What it lacks in compelling characters it makes up in some memorable shots and fun settings. Loved to see Atlantic City in its heyday AND a guy on a horse jump into a pool.
