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

Really liked the idea for 'The Burglar', despite the title sounding pretty generic in my view, and do love films that have the tense and suspenseful approach that this film sounded like it would do on paper. Paul Wendkos was a cult favourite and went on to have a good career in television later. My main reason for seeing 'The Burglar' was the cast. Have always liked Dan Duryea particularly, who was often cast in villain roles and was extremely good at that type of role.

'The Burglar' had a good deal of things going for it and has a lot of great things. For all of that promise and good things, it is also heavily flawed and doesn't really gel. Loved the style, direction and Duryea's performance. Sadly the pace in the middle act, the script and the lacking acting of early-career Jayne Mansfield (beautiful if fairly limited actress, who suffered a horrific death in a car accident just ten years later) really bring the side down very badly.

Beginning with what is good here, which is a lot actually, 'The Burglar' is beautifully and inventively shot, with plenty of style and grit. Enhancing the atmospheric and never cheaply used locations. The bold music score adds a lot too, the brassiness not being intrusive. Wendkos directs with panache, while the film starts promisingly with a lot of suspense and visual invention. And ends on a tense and gritty note.

Furthermore, there are a few good lines. One of the best being Dellas' "she tried to sit on my lap when I was standing up". Enough of the performances are good. Duryea shows that he was as good at playing tormented characters, the type he plays here, as he was with playing villains. Martha Vickers and Stewart Bradley are terrific support.

On the other point of view, there are a fair few big shortcomings and do feel bad saying this. The middle act is really dull, from a sluggish pace and next to no tension. The flow in the story and script also is very stop start. The script is a major flaw, it's too wordy, has too much extraneous fat, is very heavy-handed and can be too over-explanatory.

Mansfield is the cast's weak link. She has the beauty for the role but her limitations as an actress badly shows, bringing practically nothing to it other than good looks and not really seeming properly engaged.

In summation, above average with many good things but could have been a lot better. 6/10

For a chance to look at Atlantic City in the Fifties before the casinos moved in The Burglar is the film for you. Dan Duryea stars in this small B film from Columbia as a professional burglar looking to make a big score with a necklace robbed from a fake spiritualist.

Duryea's team consists of Peter Capell jewelry expert, Mickey Shaughnessy muscle and hormones, and Jayne Mansfield who gives his hormones their exercise. Jayne's kind of a legacy for Duryea, if you can believe he thinks of her as kind of a kid sister. Duryea was raised by Jayne's father who was also a burglar and taught him the trade.

The robbery goes, but Duryea is spotted by cop Stewart Bradley who's on the take. So he has real police as well as this crooked one looking to get in on the score.

You'll note the similarities between The Burglar and The Asphalt Jungle. Both Duryea here and Sterling Hayden in the John Huston classic seem to be drawn inexorably to disaster. The difference is that Huston had that MGM shine to his film and this is a routine B film that's a cut above average.

Usually when a film is held up for a couple of years for release that spells problems. But The Burglar shot in 1955 and released in 1957 is moody and atmospheric and a nifty noir feature. Jayne Mansfield gets some competition in the sex pot department from Martha Vickers best remembered as Lauren Bacall's psychotic sister in The Big Sleep. She's working with Bradley who's working on Mansfield. All I can say is nice work if you can get it.

Around this time there was an attempt to make a lead of Dan Duryea, but he never really transitioned into that category. But The Burglar represents a fine bit of work from him and the rest of the cast.