The Burglar, Jayne Mansfield in a Polka Dot Bikini

Yes, America's most iconic (to many an American) sex symbol, Jayne Mansfield in a polka dot bikini. Don't be fooled by the beginning of this film which suggests an unglamorous and serious role for the blonde idol. Sure, it is a serious role, and her performance is in that of a gritty role, but come on!  If Jayne Mansfield is in a film, we want a bikini! Also gritty is the setting of nefarious neighborhoods of Philadelphia and then Atlantic City.  Our feature today is 1957's "The Burglar," directed by Paul Wendkos.

Nat (Dan Duryea) is a burglar with honor. No weapons and always does his jobs clean.  As the film begins, him and his two seedy cohorts, Baylock (Peter Capell) and Dohmer (Mickey Shaughnessy) are robbing the safe of a millionaire occultist (Phoebe Mackay). The job goes almost perfectly partly because Gladden (Mansfield) was able to case the place the day before. Almost perfectly, as cops come by and investigate their parked car. Okay, back at the hideout, a dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere. Nat is patient and realizes he needs to wait until the heat is off before fencing the ruby necklace. Baylock is not patient and wants his share so he can flee to Central America. Dohmer loves antagonizing Gladden, and she wants to kill him. Nat does his best to ignore Gladden even though she is obviously in love with him.

The boys are weary of Gladden as she ogles Nat.  They are suspicious of Nat because he completely ignores and rebuffs her. They want her gone and eventually, to Gladden's sorrow, Nat tells her to go to Atlantic City and start a new life. Nat, anxious to forget Gladden, meets Della (Martha Vickers) in a bar and the duo fall in love. Uh oh, Gladden falls in love with Charlie (Stewart Bradley).  Charlie first meets Gladden on the beach as she is clad in that aforementioned bikini. Uh oh...something isn't right and we find out that the heist of the necklace is destined for failure.  Now Nat and Gladden are in mortal peril, and the gang must leave their safehouse and travel to Atlantic City to save Gladden.  This won't go well as the cops are closing in on them.

Just why is Nat hesitant about falling in love with America's most famous sex symbol?  Just who are Della and Charlie and is their timing a little too coincidental?  Is their even a prayer that Nat and Gladden will end up together with the ruby necklace?  Despite Gladden's sex appeal, this is one of those films that seems to be heading to tragedy and despair.  We are pulling for Gladden as she looks so good in the polka dot thing she wears.  For some cheese and very gritty Film Noir, see "The Burglar."

Highway Dragnet, Roger Corman's First Film

Roger Corman! True legend! He was a co-producer and co-wrote  the story. The story? A good one!  No sign of low-budget here, just a setting heavy murder mystery set on lonely desert highways in Nevada and California in the days before Interstate 10. Then a very wet and shocking conclusion in the Sonoran Desert and the Salton Sea. Gritty and alluring, this one can boast of a couple of dames who might just be femme fatales. Our feature today is 1954's "Highway Dragnet," directed by Nathan Juran.

Home from Korea for only a week, handsome U.S. Marine sergeant, Jim Henry (Richard Conte) buys a sultry dame (Mary Beth Hughes) a drink at a bar near Vegas. She blows up, as most dames do, and attacks him.  He kisses her like no woman has ever been kissed before, as guys do. Yep, she ends up strangled in a nearby hotel room with a bar full of drunks telling the cops he's the killer. Now Joe is on the run as the cops, led by Lieutenant Joe White Eagle (Reed Hadley) have a dragnet along the desert highways. Desperate to escape, Jim helps two babes with car trouble and gets a ride with them. The babes? Here we go. Mrs. Cummings (Joan Bennett), a fashion photographer and her sultry swimsuit model, Susan (Wanda Hendrix).

I'm leaving a lot out but the trio end up at a desert hotel where Cummings shoots (with a camera) the swimsuit clad Susan by the pool. The cops close in and now Jim, at gunpoint, commandeers the two dames and drives into the desert. Now Cummings and Susan figure he's the killer...but is that too easy? Yes! Well, then who is the killer?  In the desert, Susan falls in love with Jim.  The problem, Lt. White Eagle is a fantastic cop and him and his boys are closing in fast. So where does this all lead, especially if Jim is not the killer? Ha!  You'll see.

Just what is this relationship between Cummings and Susan?  If Jim is innocent, where is he taking these dames? Will the swimsuit clad bathing beauty Susan and Cummings enter into a catfight with Jim as the center of attention?  That third question is more relevant than you know.  Mr. Conte is perfect as a down-and-out marine just home from the war.  Ms. Hendrix is sultry as the swimsuit model.  Ms. Bennett is mysterious and beautiful as the aloof Mrs. Cummings.  For a great Film Noir film, see "Highway Dragnet."    

Screaming Mimi, Swedish Dancing Girl in Peril

Anita Ekberg! No stranger to playing weird and sultry blondes. In 2025 we can say that her character is so messed up.  Imagine what they said in 1958, in a much saner time. Smart men see this character coming and run the other way. Alas, men are not smart. That's why they die before women. Still, it is nice to see Anita Ekberg do erotic dance routines that feature bondage, ropes, and chains. Meanwhile all around her, sultry blondes are being butchered by some maniac. Let us look at the weird Film Noir movie from 1958, "Screaming Mimi," directed by Gerd Oswald.

The sultry Virginia (Ekberg), clad in a swimsuit, leaps out of the California surf, up a hill, and into an outdoor shower. While in the shower a pervert-maniac escapee from an asylum murders her dog and goes after her with a big knife. Helpless in the shower, her stepbrother (Romney Brent) shoots the fiend to death just before the knife penetrates Virginia. This  episode drives Virginia stark raving mad and into a mental asylum where she is treated by the weird Dr. Greenwood (Harry Townes). He is so enthralled with this weird, maniacal, blonde bombshell he leaves the profession and takes Virginia to the city where he will be her keeper. Great idea!  Who would imaging this wouldn't work out so well? Now Virginia is Yolanda Lang and performing at The Madhouse, a nightclub featuring exotic dancing girls, run by Gypsy (Gypsy Rose Lee).

Skipping over all the lesbian suggestion going on here, it turns out a stripper named Lola Lake (Jeanne Cooper) was butchered 30 days ago. Now Bill Sweeney (Philip Carey) arrives to do a story on the new bondage dancer, Yolanda. He's enthralled but senses something is not right. Dr. Greenwood is now Bill Green, Yolanda's creepy caretaker. He has some hypnotic authority over her and is her master. Mimi? You had to ask. Screaming Mimi is a statue of a half naked dame maniacally wielding a knife and Yolanda has one. Who else had one? Lola, and now Lola is dead. Uh oh, someone is trying to kill, and almost succeeds at murdering Yolanda. Sweeney is falling in love with Yolanda and now Green and the killer are coming after him. This is all going into a very sordid place, I assure you.

Who is murdering blonde exotic dancers?  Just what is this hold Green has over Yolanda?  What significance is the Screaming Mimi statue in all of this? As usual, Anita Ekberg is mesmerizing and her dance numbers are pure seduction and deviance.  For a prurient and breathtaking Film Noir experience, see "Screaming Mimi."

Road House, Ida Lupino's Magnum Opus

Ida Lupino!  Today we look at one of her most famous films. Her performance does beg the question, was she any good?  In the film she plays a lounge singer, and pianist.  We hear her and wonder if it is any good.  When she finishes, the crowd in the lounge is enthralled and impressed. Cornel Wilde and Richard Widmark are drooling.  I guess she did well, though, as Celeste Holm remarked, she seemed to be gargling with gravel. Not important, as she wore some very provocative and shiny gowns as she performed.  Our feature today is 1948's "Road House," directed by Jean Negulesco.

Jefty (Widmark) runs a road house in which there is a lounge, restaurant, bowling alley, gift shop, etc. His number one man is his childhood friend Pete (Wilde). Susie (Holm) is keen on Pete, but not vice versa. One night Jefty returns from Chicago with a new lounge singer/entertainer, Lily (Lupino). She's ravishing and Jefty is so in love with her, but she does not love him. No matter, Jefty is convinced she will be. Pete sees what's going on and knows Lili is no good for this place. Jefty paid her far above her value and houses her in a nice motel instead of a room upstairs. Pete tries to get Lily to leave but she won't. You see what's coming.  Lily increases business for Jefty's Road House and also falls in love with Pete. Eventually Pete will fall in love with Lily.

Poor Jefty.  The poor guy gets a marriage license as he is that sure Lily will want to marry him.  Being friends forever, Pete is confident he can break the news to Jefty and he will take it like a man. Ha! No way!  When a dame that looks like Ida Lupino is involved, maturity and civility are nowhere to be found. Now Jefty is out for blood and he is smart.  He crafts an elaborate plan to strike back at Pete and Lily, and ultimately to force Lily to marry him.  Lily will sing and play the piano and seduce everyone in the lounge while she does.  Jefty is entranced by her and there is no way he will just hand her over to Pete.

Will the friendship between Pete and Jefty still be intact by the time the end credits roll?  Will anyone have the guts to suggest singing lessons for Lily?  Just how far will Jefty go in securing Lily for himself?  This is a good one and the performances are all first-rate.  The ending will be wild! For a neat Film Noir film, see "Road House." 

Shockproof, A Probation Agent and His Femme Fatale Parolee

Patricia Knight and Cornel Wilde were married when they made this film together.  The sultry blonde actress and the square-jawed hunk actor stayed married for 14 years and collaborated many times together. In this gritty one, set in L.A., Ms. Knight plays a true femme-fatale...a murderess, where corpses and carnage seem to be part of the settings wherever she goes. Still, she's a babe, so we like her. Our film today is 1949's "Shockproof," directed by Douglas Sirk.

Los Angeles probation officer, Griff Morat (Wilde), meets his new parolee, a sultry dame who is getting out after serving five years for murder. Jenny (Knight) is a murderess, but boy is she a dish. Griff, a good soul, wants Jenny to go straight, tries to get her a job and a place to live. Sadly, Jenny always drifts back to her old BF, the gambler Harry Wesson (John Baragrey).  See, John waited for her for five years. Jenny actually murdered to protect Harry...and she feels she owes him. Griff knows Jenny is too good for Harry and has Jenny stay at his place, care for his blind mother (Esther Minciotti), and tend house. Yep, they fall in love.  Harry will not accept this and he wants Jenny back...who wouldn't?

Now Harry works out a scheme to ruin Griff and get Jenny back.  Jenny, at first, seems willing to return to the man who waited five years for her.  Then Griff really turns on the charm and Jenny is in love.  Now Harry is forced to act.  Uh oh...cross a dame and you can get hurt.  Cross a dame who just happens to be a murderer and well...get more than hurt. However sweet Jenny is, she is a killer.  Now Griff's world is turned upside down and what follows is pure awfulness for him and Jenny.

What does Jenny do to Harry?  Can Jenny and Griff eventually get married and live happily ever after?  Is a pretty face all that is needed to forgive homicidal tendencies in a sultry dame?  Perhaps, in the movies it is.  For a gritty Film Noir action flick, with great cheese and beef, see "Shockproof" and be ready to gasp in surprise.

  

Night Editor, A Fable for the Ages

What a tangle web we weave when we first practice to deceive! That seems to be the gist of today's film. A happy ending will only occur by remembering biblical wisdom of "The truth will set you free." Still, the truth isn't easy.  It also has consequences.  Loss of everything is a tough pill to swallow.  Our feature takes place in two places.  First the City Desk of the New York Star.  Then the streets of New York City as homicide detectives race to solve a murder.  Let us delve into 1946's "Night Editor," directed by Henry Levin.

Poor Johnny (Coulter Irwin). A cub reporter with marriage problems.  His marriage may be on the outs and at such a young age. So sad. But wait! His editor, Crane Stewart (Charles D. Brown) tells him the story of a beleaguered homicide detective, Lieutenant Tony Cochrane (William Gargan). See, Tony has a loving and beautiful wife (Jeff Donnell), and a doting little boy. He loves them, but the poor detective has gotten himself in an affair with a wealthy married socialite, Jill (Janis Carter). Jill is glamorous, rich, and 100% trouble. To carry on the affair, Tony lies to his fellow cops and his family. Jill won't let him go. One night when they are making out in the cop car by the seashore, the amorous duo witness a murder.  She's married, and so is he.  Neither can come forward.

Ridden with guilt, Tony figures he's in a moral mess. Uh oh...he's assigned to the case as soon as the dead socialite is found at the shore. Now Tony is horrified at the ease in which Jill is fine with saying nothing. Uh oh...clues are found and if Tony doesn't make them go away, he will be found out. Jill won't let Tony go and now she has something to blackmail him with. Tony knows Jill has the power to control him, thus he continues the affair. Coming clean is not an option for Tony as it would mean he will be fired, lose his family, and go to prison. Uh oh...the cops arrest and convict someone for the murder. What's worse, Tony knows the guy is innocent and a poor schmuck has a date with the electric chair.

Will Tony come clean and risk everything?  Will Jill allow him to confess to his actions?  Is there a possible scenario where this will end well for Tony? The truth will take his burden away but will also cost him everything. Miss Carter is sultry and fabulous as the femme fatale that controls Tony. Mr. Gargan is terrific as the hulking homicide detective with burdens.  The ending is surprising and also quite vicious. See the Film Noir classic, "Night Editor."