Friday, December 11, 2020 at 5:21:00 P.M. EST
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Paul Wendkos’ The Burglar (1957), with Dan Duryea, Jayne Mansfield, Martha Vickers, Peter Capell, Mickey Shaughnessy and Stewart Bradley. The screenplay was written by David Goodis, based on his own novel. This is the only time Goodis wrote the screenplay for a film based on one of his books.
Film Noir Guide: “Duryea and his gang (Mansfield, Capell, and Shaughnessy) burglarize a wealthy spiritualist’s mansion and make off with a necklace worth 150Gs. They have to stay holed up in their claustrophobic apartment until the heat is off, when they’ll be able to fence the necklace for half its value.
“Mansfield is in love with Duryea, but all he’s interested in is keeping his word to her father, his late mentor, that he’ll watch out for her.
“Shaughnessy, who has the unrequited hots for the blonde bombshell, attacks her, forcing Duryea to send her away for her own protection.
“The remaining gang member, Capell, simply wants his share of the dough so he can realize his dream--a luxurious and carefree life in Central America.
“To complicate matters, a crooked cop (Bradley) and a femme fatale (Vickers) begin to romance Mansfield and Duryea in a plot to pinch the necklace. This is an unsatisfying noir with too many weird camera angles and close-ups, little character development and even less action. The heist at the beginning of the film and the climax on Atlantic City's boardwalk are enjoyable, however.
“Mansfield is surprisingly good compared to her lame performance the previous year in Female Jungle.”
David in TN: Despite Film Noir Guide, I think The Burglar is a good film of its kind. The crooks (and their living arrangements) are more realistic than usual. Also, Jayne Mansfield showed she could act.
Several years ago, Eddie Muller was guest hosting one night and showed The Burglar. Eddie noted the legend that Jayne Mansfield had a “genius” IQ, but shows no sign of it in her surviving interviews.
Several months ago TCM showed Illegal (1955) with Nina Foch and Mansfield playing the two leading female characters. Foch played a lawyer and could have been one in real life. I had the DVD of Illegal with Nina Foch doing a commentary shortly before her death. Nina was still very sharp, mentally, highly critical of the movie.
Was Jayne Mansfield as intelligent as Nina Foch? She might have been. Her father was a successful attorney. Mansfield played the dumb blonde bit to the hilt. Late in life, Johnny Carson tried to get her to say something intelligent, but Mansfield kept pretending to be dumb.
N.S.: Geena Davis claims to have a genius I.Q., and has long bragged about being a member of Mensa, but when I’ve seen her interviewed on talk shows, she sounded like a dunce.
Everything was, ‘We have to give girls affirmative action.’
She had no arguments for her social engineering schemes; she’s just another pushy, brain-dead feminist used to being served.
2 comments:
Jayne in her final days was touring the military clubs Far East. Sad way to end a career.
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 am ET is Henry Hathaway's Kiss of Death (1947) with Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Richard Widmark, Coleen Gray, Taylor Holmes, with screenplay by Ben Hecht.
Kiss of Death has New York locations with the documentary style Fox began in the late 40's. There are scenes at The Tombs, Sing Sing, Chrysler Building (robbery takes place), and Astoria Queens (Nick Bianco's house).
Film Noir Guide: "Mature, a hood who gets nabbed after pulling a jewelry store heist, is offered a deal by assistant D.A. Donlevy if he'll squeal on his partners. Mature refuses even though it means facing a twenty-year stretch and leaving his wife and kids alone. The mob's lawyer (Holmes) promises Mature that his family will be taken care of and that he'll see to it that he's paroled. While in prison, Mature hears that his wife has committed suicide and that his kids have been placed in an orphanage. So he contacts Donlevy and sings like a canary. Released on parole, he marries his daughters' former babysitter (Gray) and tries to live a normal life. The D.A., however, has other plans for him--he wants to trap psychopathic killer Widmark. Filmed on location in and around New York City and upstate New York, Kiss of Death is a violent action-packed film. Mature gives one of his best performances as the 'good' crook turned squealer, and Donlevy is good as the persistent D.A. who makes Mature earn his freedom. But it's Widmark, in his film debut, who steals the film with his impressive portrayal of the giggling psychopath."
Richard Widmark's psycho portrayal in his film debut got him the only Academy Award nomination of his career. Tommy Udo Fan Clubs sprang up at college fraternities.
In Eddie Muller's outro last week for The Burglar, he repeated the old story that Jayne Mansfield had a "genius IQ," but this time didn't add that Mansfield never showed any sign of it in her surviving interviews.
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