THE CAT BURGLAR (1961)

This sixty-five-minute film opens with night moves by a petty thief, Jack Hogan, climbing on balconies and roofs in his cat burglar apparel, a black sweatshirt, and a flat cap. The film feels promising with an opening title theme by Buddy "Repetitive" Bregman. The jazz score is cool in the beginning, yet becomes stale as the movie progresses with the same riff repeated over and over, only louder. Hogan shines in the last of his short film career as the burglar, giving the distinct impression that his delivery style is that of James Caan. When his character audibly shares his inner thoughts, his vocals pull it off with a natural flair. Hogan carries this film.

The story, written by Leo Gordon, prolific television actor, screenwriter, novelist, and all-around burly guy, has a subplot that I did not see coming so some kudos are in order for this. But expect the usual awkward scenes, which have now become amusing. Beyond Hogan's excellent performance, the other players do a decent job, though June Kenney's untrained voice and stage presence hurt her performance. (Seen below in deep thought.) Gregg Palmer's over-the-top performance is borderline hilarious.

Hogan steals a briefcase from Kenney’s apartment, hoping to find something of value. His usual pattern is to fence his take at a local pawn shop run by Gene Roth. Roth is effective here as the cigar-smoking owner with an annoying cough. Hogan’s contents are not of much value except for a notebook he thought worthless. He leaves that behind in his trash can.
Kenny, the unsuspecting briefcase courier, tells her boss/boyfriend, John Baer, about the theft, and his only concern is that notebook.

Greedy mastermind, Palmer, learns of the missing case and questions his partner, Baer. Using a low "hip cam" angle, we have a detailed view of his waistline and suit, which forms an "A" shape around Baer's face. He grumbles down on Baer’s recklessness in commanding form. It demands we see his face. But the cameraman cannot find his face in his viewfinder. When we hear Palmer’s threatening words as he thrusts a newspaper’s damaging headline at Baer, it is immediately followed by six descending notes of doom from a trombone, da-da-dum, da-da-dum. Another Bregman overkill. It is the funniest element in the film and is repeated often, just when expected. The very same notes of doom used over the years in comedy skit parodies.

Without revealing how, Kenny manages to locate a rotund, unkempt man in a sleazy apartment complex. An additional low "ankle cam" experiment is used as she approaches his apartment door. He is downtown’s official informant and takes her to the pawnshop. After telling her story, Roth knows to contact the cat burglar. After a meager payment to Hogan for the briefcase contents, Roth returns the briefcase to Kenny. Baer is not amused that the notebook is still missing and verbally assaults Roth, assuming he knows where it is.

Before dumping the notebook, Hogan tore out a couple of pages to level his teetering dresser, which his motel owner refuses to fix until he pays his rent. He arranges to get the notebook back to Kenney after a rather ambitious plan for a guy who calls himself a “crumb.” He painstakingly writes out several fake pages to fill out the notebook's mathematical schematics and get a fast hundred-dollar reward.

Baer meets with Palmer (above), who is enraged by the pages of gibberish in the notebook. The fake pages make the engineering plans for a new ICBM propulsion useless. He expected to trade those to foreign buyers on the black market. Suddenly, a national security subplot! They immediately head for Hogan’s motel room, and Palmer’s muscle gives Hogan a thorough beating and takes his one hundred dollars. But one thug is not quite finished. Not comfortable enough, he wants to get down to business. He takes off his suit coat and rolls up his sleeves. On previous beatings, he tried this with sleeves buttoned, but it was never successful. Hogan now realizes that the notebook must have a high value.

Kenney, assuming the benefit of the doubt, tells Baer that Hogan thinks he is involved in espionage. Da-da-dum! Da-da-dum! With lies spewing left and right, she soon finds that Palmer is not actually a police lieutenant. Arriving in his new Thunderbird should have been her clue. Hogan is waiting in a warehouse full of empty, blank boxes. As the last to enter the warehouse, Palmer releases Baer of any future scenes and mortally wounds Hogan. At the clichéd elevated position, he and Palmer struggle, both stuntmen falling onto the aforementioned empty boxes to break their fall. Both die from severe paper cuts. The "crumb" finally did something worthwhile with his life..

Note: Billie Bird, the daffy Mrs. Prattle, is the motel owner. She insists everyone pronounce it Praytel. The Praytel Motel does have a ring to it. Comically, she grumbles about being interrupted in the middle of nothing important. Drag racing legend Tommy Ivo plays her somewhat dimwitted son, who garners some laughs with his weak performance.