Man in the Vault (1956)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

John Wayne's production company Batjac footed the bill on director Andrew V. McLaglen's sophomore effort "Man in the Vault, and RKO Studios released it in 1956. This threadbare, black & white, quasi-noir crime thriller about a one-man bank heist provides some tense moments, an adequate cast, but it's strictly a minor item. Actually, "Man in the Vault" foreshadows director Richard Brooks' Warren Beatty heist thriller "Dollars" where the stakes were higher, the villains more menacing, and the rewards greater. Actors and actresses that had appeared in many of John Wayne's movies fleshed out the cast of "Man in the Vault," with contract labor serving behind the cameras. For example, Wayne later gave McLaglen a chance to direct him in "McLintock" in 1964, while co-writer Burt Kennedy wrote and directed a couple of Wayne's top 1960s westerns. Of course, cinematographer William H. Clothier had been on Wayne's payroll even before "Man in the Vault." Unfortunately, McLaglen, Kennedy, and Clothier cannot salvage this lackluster, low-stakes movie. A sleazy, small-fry mobster Willis Trent (Berry Kroeger of "Seven Thieves")approaches locksmith Tommy Dancer (William Campbell of "The High and the Mighty") at a bowling alley one night with a job to open an old footlocker back at his house. Tommy grabs his tools and rides with Trent to the hoodlum's house. Tommy has no problem opening the footlocker, but he smells a rat when Trent invites him to have some liquor at the party he's hosting with several good looking dames. One of them even sings the song "Let the chips fall where they may" to him. A pampered, single, 23-year-old doll in a mink stole, Betty Turner (Karen Sharpe of "The High and the Mighty"), arouses Tommy's curiosity as she stands alone in the middle of the party. Betty gets into an argument with her attorney boyfriend Earl Farraday (Robert Keys of "The High and the Mighty") while Tommy stands between them. As it turns out, Farrady has been fooling around with Paul De Camp's torpedo-breasted mistress, Flo(voluptuous Anita Ekberg of "La Dolce Vita"), but he has other reasons for attaching himself to her than her well-endowed upper torso. Primarily, he wants the number and the location of a safety deposit box in Paul De Camp's name that contains $200-thousand in cash that Trent and he want to steal.Betty doesn't know about the conspiracy between Farraday and Trent. Anyway, Tommy leaves Trent's party, finds boo-hooing Turner outside, and she lets him drive her over to his place. Eventually, Tommy gets fresh with Turner and kisses her. Turner slaps him and storms out, forgetting her mink. Later, Tommy suspects that Trent is leading him on when he asks him to make two keys to open De Camp's safety deposit box. At first, Tommy refuses to take the job despite the $5-thousand dollars tax-free that Trent is offering. "More than I make in a whole year," Tommy observes. Our clean-scrubbed protagonist initially rejects Trent's offer. "You know, Mr. Trent, I've been half expecting this since the first time I met you at the bowling alley." He adds, "The footlocker was the clincher. You didn't need a key to open it, it was already open." Finally, he points out, "You know I may do a lot of things that I shouldn't, but breaking into safety deposit boxes isn't one of them."Later, Tommy realizes that he is out of his class and income as a lowly locksmith around wealthy Betty, so the $5,000 gives him second thoughts. Reluctantly, later, Tommy takes the job because Trent threatens to turn his gargantuan, club-fisted, ex-prizefighting bodyguard Louie, Mike Mazurki, loose on Betty. In other words, if Tommy doesn't do the job, Betty won't have enough of a face to sip soup through a straw. Meanwhile, De Camp wants Trent out of town. "I'm far from an honest man," he assures Trent. "I worked by way up to the curb, you've never been able to get out of the gutter."The Duke's younger brother, Robert E. Morrison, received credit as the producer for "Man in a Vault." Scenarist Burt Kennedy adapted novelist Frank Gruber's novel is oddly structured and occasionally weirdly convoluted, as if a scene or two of important exposition were cut (it crams a lot of story into its 73-minute running time), or maybe some footage was shuffled around. Most of the film centers around Tommy Dancer, but the story opens with a long scene involving Trent that isn't really necessary. Both Betty and Trent are connected to Tommy via their association with Farraday, and mistress Flo likewise ties Farraday to the safety deposit box, own by Flo's husband, the semi-reformed gangster Paul De Camp (James Seay of "The Buccaneer"). Added to all this is Herbie (Paul Fix), yet another crook trying to muscle in on the action. "Man in a Vault" contains only a modicum of action. Perennial heavy Mike Mazurki wields his club-like fists on our hero, but nothing big happens in the way of action set-pieces. The best scenes are with Campbell when he is inside the vault, keeping his eye on the vault clerk outside while he jiggles the keys a safe deposit box. The storyline catches Tommy at a turning point in his life. He has found the woman of his dreams and he is prepared to stick his neck out for her, even if it means becoming a criminal. Ultimately, however, our conscientious protagonist decides to face the music so that he can help out his new girl friend. Campbell and Sharpe make an attractive couple. Meanwhile, the cigar-chewing Kroeger emerges as an unsavory villain, and Mexican-American Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales makes the most of his comic relief bit part as Tommy's pal who clears the fallen ten-pins at the bowling alley. Beautiful Anita Ekberg has little to do except display her feminine pulchritude."Man in the Vault" qualifies as a tolerable potboiler.

**SPOILERS** Decent 1950's film noir crime drama despite the very contrived and, due to the restrictive Hayes Commission, unconvincing ending.In an attempt to screw his former partner in crime, the head of West Coast illegal gambling racket, Paul De Camp, James Seay, L.A racketeer Willis Trent, Barry Kroeger, needs someone to makes him a set of safe deposit keys in order to break into and loot De Camp's box of some $200,000.00 in ill gotten gains.The Trent mobs gets totally innocent locksmith Tony Dancer, William Campbell, to do it's dirty work for it. Trent first has Tony's girlfriend Betty Turner (Karen Sharpe Kramer), whom he accentually met a cocktail party thrown by Trent,threatened to have her face worked over by his bodyguard the 6 foot five inch ex professional boxer Louie, Mike Mazurki. Tony goes along with Trent's demands but just as he's about to get his hands, in the banks safe deposit vault, on De Camp's cash he has a sudden change of mind and takes off with the money himself leaving both De Camp and Trent empty-handed.With De Camp finding out that his cash was heisted right under his nose he realizes that his sexy and well endowed girlfriend Flo Randell, Anita Ekberg, had two-timed him and beats the truth out of her. Flo had been having an affair behind De Camp's back with his lawyer the very handsome but almost always drunk Earl Farraday, Robert Keys. Farraday secretly working for Trent had used the beautiful Flo to get the number of De Camp's safe deposit box, as well as the bank where it's at, with the promise that he'll split half the loot that's in it with her.The suspenseful ending in an empty and darkened L.A bowling alley was as good as anything you'd see in an Alfred Hitchcock thriller. Tony, who stashed the stolen money in a locker at the bowling alley, is constantly hounded by this unseen and shadowy assassin. The man in the shadows is trying to knock Tony off with a combination of bowling balls and bullets as he tries to make his getaway together with, the then held hostage by Trent's henchman Louie, Betty Turner. The final ending is a bit too pat and unbelievable to really take seriously and is about the only thing that spoiled the movie for me. But up until then "Man in the Vault" was about as good a movie, or film noir, as I would have expected and for that reason alone well worth watching up until the last two minutes.P.S I just couldn't get over the strong resemblance of actor William Campbell to Tony Curtis. Campball in fact was even better looking, in a pretty boy sort of way, then Curtis ever was. On top of all that Campbell didn't have that very thick Bronx accent, "Younder lies the castle of my Fattdaa", that Tony Curtis had when he first started out in films. That unintentionally comical accent was to become the butt of so many jokes about Tony Curtis among both movie goers and critics as well as stand up comedians back in the 1950's.

If "Man in the Vault" was made today it would go straight to the video. In the old days it was probably shown as a first feature before the real thing. I am a big fan of the film - noir movies. The dark atmosphere, sharply drawn characters, daring look at the humankind and of course' some of the greatest stars of all times. This little flick has none of the above. It looks extremely cheap and tawdry, the acting belongs to the Ed Wood school of movie making( especially William Campbell who is absolutely frightful), there is no sense of humor or snappy dialog. Even my penchant for nostalgia doesn't hide the fact that this is, sadly a dreadful little picture.

Tommy Dancer is a locksmith whose skills do not go unnoticed by mobster Willis Trent. Trent wants Tommy to get into the safe deposit box of a rival mobster. Tommy refuses, despite being offered $5000 and later being roughed up by one of Trents goons. Tommy agrees when he his tipped off by one Trents men that the box contains $200,000 in cash. Tommy decides to go along with the plan, and keep the 200 grand for himself and run off with Trents moll, whom he has fallen in love with.MAN IN THE VAULT is standard low budget crime thriller from the period made enjoyable by the presence of Berry Kroeger, Paul Fix and Mike Marsurki. William Campbell gives a good performance as Tommy. There are some good moments of suspense, but things get a bit confusing toward the end.