It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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

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"!

The mobster Willis Trent (Berry Kroger) is informed by one of his gangsters that the locksmith Tommy Dancer (William Campbell) is efficient and fast in his work. Willis befriends Tommy in a bowling alley and invites him to open a trunk at his home. Tommy accepts the job and then he is invited by Willis to stay in a party at his house, where he meets the wealthy Betty Turner (Karen Sharpe). Later they go to his place and Betty forgets her stole when she goes home. On the next morning, Tommy returns the fur to Betty and they date at night. Then Willis offers five thousand dollars to Tommy to make the keys of the safe deposit box no. 315 in the Hollywood Bank that belongs to the rival criminal and head of gambling Paul De Camp (James Seay) and has two hundred thousand dollars of illegal money. Tommy turns down the offer, but Willis threatens to harm Betty's face to achieve his goal."Man in the Vault" is a good film-noir but unfortunately the moralist ending ruins the story. The romance between Tommy and Betty is dated, but acceptable for a movie of the 50's. But the conclusion with Tommy giving the stolen money to a police officer is ridiculous even in those years. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Domínio dos Homens Sem Lei" ("Domain of the Men Without Law")

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.