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.

I had an old fuzzy copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy of a TV broadcast of this 1956 crime-noir B programmer, but now that there's a new letter-boxed DVD out, I threw the old tape away and can finally enjoy this film for what it is: a solid "b" crime film with good performances, good pacing, and great Los Angeles location photography. The under-rated William Campbell plays an average guy working as a locksmith, who is approached by a gangster who wants to break into a safe deposit box. Campbell, like most people probably, initially tries to be polite, but turns down the offer. Gangsters don't like being turned down, so one can imagine where the plot goes. There's a woman involved, a shady lawyer, another gangster who has gone legit, Mike Mazurki as an ex-boxer turned enforcer, and the comedy of Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez (a regular in Batjac Productions of this era). The main female role is played (well) by Karen Sharpe, who hails from here in San Antonio! Anita Ekberg is in a small role as the girlfriend of James Seay's character, the owner of the safe deposit box. Ekberg is not really given much to do. The film, an early directorial credit of Andrew V. McLaglen. legendary director of many classic westerns and action films, is very well-paced and has amazing location photography of 1950's Los Angeles. A few key scenes take place in a bowling alley, actually Art Linkletter's La Cienega Lanes, which is of great documentary value in itself. Wait until you see the climax inside the bowling alley! This probably deserves a "7" rating, but I'll give it one star more for the nice widescreen transfer on the DVD and the great location photography. This plays a lot like an Allied Artists low-budget 50's crime film, and for me that is a high compliment. Check it out...

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

Enjoyed this B Film from 1956 which involves a locksmith named Tommy Dancer, (William Campbell) who lives a very average life and one night in his favorite bowling alley a man named Willis Trent, (Berry Kroeger) makes his acquaintance. Willis invites Tommy to a party he is having and a young gal named Betty Turner, (Karen Sharpe) catches Tommys eye and a romance starts to bloom. The film gets interesting when Tommy decides to take a job making special keys which will provide him with five thousand dollars but things change and Tommy decides to take more of the cash than he expected to receive. This is a low budget film, but I always enjoy seeing veteran actors who have a long career of appearing in many films over the years. Berry Kroeger gave a great performance along with William Campbell and Karen Sharpe who made this film very entertaining.

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"!