Man in the Vault

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.

The Dukes' production company Batjac did occasionally turn out films that didn't star the American icon, but they were typically low budget affairs. William Campbell, an actor who bounced back and forth between A and B films throughout the 50s and 60s, stars as Tommy Dancer, an average guy earning meagre wages as a locksmith. But a two-bit hoodlum named Willis Trent (Berry Kroeger) wants to hire Tommy for a job: make a set of keys for a safety deposit box that contains a substantial payday. Tommy refuses at first - he's no angel, but he's a basically good man - but the bad guys will naturally figure out ways to manipulate him into doing the job.

While Leonard Maltins' paperback review guide has always dismissed this one, in truth it's a fairly entertaining crime / noir programmer with some good acting. Campbell is okay, but is outshone by top character actors like Kroeger, Mike Mazurki (cast to type as Trents' thug), Paul Fix, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, and James Seay. It also features very nice eye candy in the form of the lovely Karen Sharpe, who plays Tommy's love interest, and delectable Anita Ekberg, the mistress of big time mob boss Seay. A lady named Vivianne Lloyd gets fairly prominent billing, but her main purpose is to take a few minutes belting out the number "Let the Chips Fall Where They May".

"Man in the Vault" is given competent guidance by director Andrew V. McLaglen, who subsequently graduated to bigger movies, a number of them with The Duke. A truly special film it's not, but it entertains reasonably for a trim 74 minutes, and features two standout suspense sequences: one, inside a bank vault, where Tommy doesn't stand much chance of not being witnessed, and two, inside a bowling alley where Tommy is pursued by an unseen assailant.

Co-star Gonzalez had earlier appeared on TV's 'You Bet Your Life', which is where The Duke had first noticed him. This little factoid is echoed as part of the movies' story (scripted by future director Burt Kennedy, based on a novel by Frank Gruber).

Seven out of 10.

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.

A tough choice for nice-guy assistant locksmith Tommy Dancer: to continue plodding on with his $80/week, go-nowhere job, OR to give in to the demands of petty hood Willis Trent, and get paid $5,000 for using his skills to break into the safety-deposit box of top-dog criminal De Camp and steal $200,000. This ethical conundrum becomes a no-brainer, however, when Trent turns the screws by kidnapping and threatening Tommy's newest girlfriend, Betty Turner. Anyway, that's the setup for Andrew V. McLaglen's "Man in the Vault," a compact little film noir from 1956 that, despite its "B movie" status--and despite the "Maltin Film Guide"'s assertion that it is "drab" and only deserving of one of its lowest ratings--still offers much. Though surely made on the cheap, the film looks just fine, and features at least two highly suspenseful sequences: the heist that Tommy carries out inside a crowded bank, and a nighttime game of cat and mouse between Tommy and one of Trent's thugs inside a deserted bowling alley. Plus, with a running time of only 73 minutes, the picture is lean and fast moving, with little in the way of flab (excepting, perhaps, that three-minute song "Let the Chips Fall Where They May," warbled by a chantootsie early on at Trent's house party).

And then there is the film's single best element: a surprisingly excellent performance by William Campbell as Tommy Dancer, who does indeed get to "dance" all over L.A. while embroiled in this film's shenanigans. Campbell, who is perhaps best known for his appearances in three "Star Trek" episodes (as Trelane in "The Squire of Gothos" and the wimpiest Klingon ever, Koloth, in "The Trouble With Tribbles," both from the original series, and then toughening up Koloth considerably, many years later, in "Deep Space 9"'s "Blood Oath"), is immensely likable and sympathetic here. The late actor (he passed away on 4/28/11, at the age of 84) easily carries this film. Karen Sharpe (not to be confused with Karen Steele, as I did going in) is cute and appealing as Betty, Berry Kroeger is memorable as the smarmy Trent, and former heavyweight wrestler Mike Mazurki adds his always welcome, menacing presence. Oh...how could I forget the main reason for my rental of this film in the first place: Anita Ekberg, Miss Sweden 1951, playing the part of De Camp's moll, Flo Brant? Sadly, Anita is only given perhaps 10 minutes of screen time in all to make an impression, but looks so stunning that, yes, an impression is most certainly made. Anita would have to wait another four years before really making the world sit up and take notice, in 1960's "La Dolce Vita," but is still fairly riveting here, despite her small part. Throw in some nice location photography of 1950s Los Angeles (including the Hollywood Bowl and Hollywood Blvd., replete with a Rexall Drugstore!), some well-done, naturalistic dialogue, efficient direction from McLaglen and a highly satisfactory denouement and you've got a little film that's a lot more than merely "drab"!

Adapted by Burt Kennedy from the Frank Gruber novel, The Lock and the Key, Man in the Vault is a minor 50s crime flick that has somehow been lumped into the film noir encyclopedias. Andrew V. McLaglen directs and William Campbell, Karen Sharpe, Anita Ekberg and Berry Kroeger star. Story has Campbell as a locksmith who gets coerced into a deposit box theft just as Sharpe turns his head romantically.

Amazingly, nothing much happens, there's a lot of talking and pouting, Campbell's teddy-boy quiff always holds court, while Kroeger tries to eat all the indoor scenery. William H. Clothier is utterly wasted on photography, only really getting to use his skills when the story enters out onto the real L.A. locations; which are actually the film's only saving grace. OK! The deposit box sequence has a modicum of suspense, the mystery element as Campbell tries to fathom out what's going on also works, but come the weak and cop-out finale you may well wish you had done the gardening instead. 5/10