Jayne Mansfield in THE BURGLAR
A Case of Murder
From AFI:
"In Philadelphia, soon after burglar Nat Harbin sees a newsreel about a priceless emerald necklace owned by a spiritualist named Sister Sara, he dispatches Gladden, a woman in his gang, to case Sara’s mansion. Pretending to be an admirer of the spiritualist, Gladden gains entrance to the estate and reports back to Nat that the necklace is locked in a safe in Sara’s upstairs bedroom. Gladden continues that Sara always watches newscaster John Facenda’s nightly broadcast. The next evening, as Sara settles into her easy chair in front of the television set, Nat scales the trellis to her bedroom and begins to drill open the safe. While cruising by in their patrol car, two policemen notice Nat’s auto parked outside the estate and stop to investigate, prompting gang members Dohmer and Baylock to signal Nat. Scurrying back down the trellis, Nat approaches the officers and lies that his car has broken down. After the police depart, Nat returns to the safe, removing the necklace just seconds before Sara climbs the stairs to her bedroom. Speeding away into the night, Dohmer, Baylock and Nat drive to their hideout in a run-down tenement. There, Baylock values the necklace at $85,000 and nervously presses Nat to sell it immediately."
A classic set-up for a noir heist film, where the criminals are at each other's throats, and the tension ratchets from the beginning. Dan Duryea is Nat, and Jayne Mansfield is Gladden. Although I don't see much in Mansfield's performance other than a Marilyn Monroe retread, I've really started to like Duryea, who's usually a heel's heel in films like THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, SCARLET STREET and CRISS CROSS. In true noir fashion, we are given a reason that Duryea has decided to become a criminal, but in true David Goodis fashion (author of both the source novel and the screenplay) that reason is completely sympathetic and tied to family. The relationship between Duryea and Mansfield is intriguing and a nice change of pace from the norm. There was some location shooting in Philadelphia, Goodis' home, and I'm excited to see if I can spot any of those sites when I go there in November. [Jared will see and feel the Ghost of Goodis at NoirCon 2010, WILL YOU?]
Judgment: noir.
A superior, off-beat, semi-obscure film noir, The Burglar played at the Castro Theatre as part of their “Blonde Bombshells” series, for which The Burglar qualified because of the buxom young Miss Jayne Mansfield. But I had wanted to see it because it’s an adaptation of my favorite crime novel by the brilliant David Goodis. In fact, the screenplay was adapted by Goodis himself. But what I wasn’t expecting was how strange, quirky, and fun a movie it would turn out to be.
Directed with great funky imagination by Paul Wendkos, the film is a potpourri of sights and sounds, character and invention. The bleak and fatalistic novel is transformed, not adhering purely to Goodis’ dark poetry, but given an almost comic vibe at times. Scenes of melodrama play almost as comedy, and the sense that its not utterly unintentional comedy comes from the playful direction. Case in point, toward the film’s finale, which takes place on the Atlantic City boardwalk, having entered a fun house area, an animated mannikin figure intones severely, “We…the dead…welcome you…” It falls between eerie and hilarious, but in a cool way.
The story is about a burglar, played by Dan Duryea, and his small gang who steal a very fancy necklace, but are hunted by the police and also by other criminals, while they try to hole up til the heat cools. Mansfield plays Gooden, Duryea’s adopted “little sister” who he is saddled with since the passing of their adoptive father, a burglar who taught them the business, but also taught them kindness and humanity. And then there is Della (Martha Vickers), the dark, alcoholic, adult woman for whom Duryea’s burglar falls. The cast is really good, particularly Duryea and his two criminal buddies, all played with great “character” style. [Wendkos' wife is in the film as well!]
There are so many little things that make the movie constantly surprising and fun. The finale at the boardwalk is probably the great highlight, but the film was shot in both Atlantic City and Philadelphia (also where the book was set) and there are keen charms of location shooting. In the scene in which the burglary takes place, the camera is set “looking out” through the safe in the wall, now left wide open by the burglar. The audience sees the unaware heiress pass by a few times before she looks into the camera/safe and screams. Quite funny that.
Wendkos also uses sound throughout the whole of the film, either the rather loud and dramatic musical score, even during scenes of meaningful dialogue, but also all types of “natural” ambient sounds, waves at the beach, seagulls, ticking of clocks. It’s almost like the soundtrack of the film has its own whole little story to tell.
