1957! What a Great Year!

THE BURGLAR-1957-Dan Dureya leads a small band of criminals who steal a valuable necklace from an eccentric philanthropist. His partners are a jewel expert (Peter Capell), a thug (Mickey Shaunessy) and his adopted sister (Jayne Mansfield) who everyone has eyes for. The quartet hold up in a house and eventually get on each others' nerves. Meanwhile a weird detective tries to crack the case. When things shift to Atlantic City the story takes a mysterious turn and there are some plot twists. Jayne appears in a bath suit in a very short scene. The screenplay is by author David Goodis who also wrote the novel it's based on. He also penned the novels Dark Passage (adapted by director Delmar Daves 10 years earlier) and Down There (the basis for Francois Truffaut's SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER).

THE BURGLAR is no classic but it's a good little film noir which marked the film debut of director Paul Wendkos who later made GIDGET and BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNG and did tons of TV work.

Thanks for reading!