Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation, 98m 59s
With
the calm voice of a female narrator, the opening sequence of director Henry
Hathaway's KISS OF DEATH is designed
to make the viewer identify with Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) on Christmas Eve
in New York City. The 29-year-old ex-con Bianco has a list of robberies to his
credit and, consequently, no job opportunities in the legitimate business
world. But Christmas gifts matter to criminals too, especially someone like
Bianco with two young daughters (Iris Mann and Marilee Grassini) to consider.
Naturally his jewel heist goes poorly, with Bianco halted by police gunfire. In
a further attempt to play on the sympathies of the viewing audience, a sense of
genetic destiny is hardwired when the narrator explains Bianco saw his father
shot to death by cops. A bad guy with a good heart, Bianco has that steadfast
moral code that so often guides the film
noir protagonist, and he refuses to play ball with Assistant D.A. Louis
D'Angelo (Brian Donlevy). But the noir
hand of fate is on Bianco when he is sentenced the same day as Tommy Udo
(Richard Widmark's incredible debut), a giggling psychotic who would not give
D'Angelo "...the skin off a grape." While serving his stretch, Bianco
receives some horrible news and turns to D'Angelo for help. After three years
of incarceration, he is now ready to "squeal" in the interest of
family.
From
the early moments, the narrative is structured over a liberal ideological
foundation. D'Angelo recognizes the worth of Bianco, whose love for his
children elevates his status above that of the common criminal who
theoretically cares only about himself. "I'm the kind of a guy you can't
hurt," Bianco declares, but this is a front. He cares more about his
daughters than anything. Similarity is stressed between Bianco and Udo, our
lead protagonist's suppressed dark half, only to create separation between the
two later. Initially they are imprisoned together, even handcuffed together.
Where Udo is a self-centered man who gives no thought to the wants and needs of
others, Bianco is a father who must maintain a bond with his little children
and devoted housewife figure Nettie (Coleen Gray, THE KILLING [1956]). Bianco is also a far better man than his slimy
attorney Earl Howser (Taylor Holmes), who summons the likes of Udo to perform
dirty work. Ultimately the film's progressive trappings are challenged by
Bianco's moral compass, which remains intact from start to finish. Like so many
moral but flawed protagonists we have witnessed since KISS OF DEATH, he must bend the rules for the greater good since
the criminal justice system proves unable to contain demented sociopaths like
Udo. In the film's concluding sequence, Bianco essentially assumes heroic
qualities, able to survive multiple gunshots from close range.
Certainly
one of the best-entitled film noirs, KISS OF DEATH was influential in terms
of its location filming and character archetypes. Nick Bianco has his precursor
in Philip Raven (Alan Ladd) from THIS
GUN FOR HIRE (1942), a formative film
noir whose central character, a contract killer, finds redemption before
the credits roll. I am not a huge fan of Victor Mature, but his controlled
performance as Bianco holds up well today, especially upon repeat viewings.
Mature is particularly effective whenever his character faces renewed pressure.
Obviously the more influential performance was that of Richard Widmark, whose
lunatic hood Tommy Udo would be channeled in countless gangster films that
would follow KISS OF DEATH. Despite
a borderline over-the-top turn from Widmark, it is easy to see where even more
could have been done with the role of Udo. A fair amount of suspense is created
in regard to the safety of Bianco's daughters with Udo loose on the streets,
but the girls are never confronted directly by Udo; the potential encounter merely
is suggested. Some missed opportunity aside, the Udo character is no less than
a film noir legend of criminal evil.
He shows no respect for the values of civilized society. His inclination toward
violence is well illustrated when he delivers one of the great movie slaps of
the Golden Age of Hollywood. Twentieth Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck
recognized Widmark's emerging star power and encouraged the actor to recreate
his role in the subsequent Fox productions THE
STREET WITH NO NAME (1948) and ROAD
HOUSE (1948).
Despite
a deliberate attempt by the production team to imbue KISS OF DEATH with a heavy dose of location-based authenticity,
stylized film noir visual tropes and
themes dutifully inform the well-paced action. A sense of Bianco's entrapment
is communicated in the early going when he and his cohorts sweat it out in an
elevator, surrounded by potential problems to their escape. The entrapment theme
logically transitions into a prison setting, with both Bianco and Nettie framed
in terms of either vertical bars or the intricate web of a textile plant. By
the film's third act, director of photography Norbert Brodine's compositions
become much darker, with Bianco and Udo sometimes oppressed by their
environments. Interestingly, some of the most unambiguously noir images feature Bianco in his own
home, where the traditional family setting shows incompatibility within the
boundaries of the film noir (this
common noir theme is explored in
depth by Sylvia Harvey in her excellent article “Woman’s Place: The Absent
Family of Film Noir” [WOMEN IN FILM NOIR, E. Ann Kaplan, Ed., 1978]). When
Bianco checks on the safety of his daughters, one realizes the magnificent film noir THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955) owes something to KISS OF DEATH. In a later sequence,
darkness threatens Bianco, who awaits the unpredictable rage of Udo. In terms
of locations, Sing Sing Penitentiary, a boxing arena, a bordello and various
night clubs provide essential noir
terrain. Another familiar noir motif
is the staircase, which frequently is associated with peril, as seen in MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (1945), PANIC IN THE STREETS (1950), APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER (1951) and SUDDEN FEAR (1952), just to name a few
examples. Without question, KISS OF
DEATH contains the mother of all treacherous noir stairways!
The
Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray (3,000 units) is worth the premium price
for the packaging alone, which highlights the classic film's most infamous
event. Framed at 1.33:1, the feature presentation is the result of a sturdy HD
transfer that displays strong contrast levels and deep blacks. The main audio
tracks include English 2.0 DTS-HD MA and an English 1.0 DTS-HD MA option.
Ported from the Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment DVD released in 2005
is the audio commentary track with film
noir experts Alain Silver and James Ursini, who have worked together on
numerous studies devoted to film noir,
most notably FILM NOIR: AN ENCYCLOPEDIC REFERENCE TO THE AMERICAN STYLE, first
published in 1979, and the FILM NOIR READER series (1996-2004). The authors
cite director Henry Hathaway as the architect behind the "docu-noir"
style. Hathaway's THE HOUSE ON 92ND
STREET (1945), 13 RUE MADELEINE (1946)
and KISS OF DEATH all make extensive
use of location footage. An opening title card claims the film was shot
entirely on location, though Silver and Ursini provide the amendment that the
climactic shootout was shot on a Fox soundstage after the original location
footage that took place on a bus did not pan out. Ursini identifies the
high-key lighting typical of location-based docudrama that gives way to low-key
lighting in tune with the storyline's noir
sensibilities. The author also references various layers of Christian symbolism
that he credits to co-screenwriter Ben Hecht. Ursini also mentions that
Hathaway violence tends to be on the graphic side, i.e. THE DARK CORNER (1946), CALL
NORTHSIDE 777 (1948). Hathaway was a volatile personality by reputation,
though according to the authors he had a talent for subtle staging as well.
Another good line of analysis from Silver and Ursini is the use of jazz music
that fills sections of this noir
city. Such locales may be alien to middle class whites, but not to the film noir protagonists in this film and
other genre examples such as PHANTOM
LADY (1944), CRISS CROSS (1949)
and D.O.A. (1950).
A
fresh audio commentary was recorded in December of 2016 for this new Blu-ray
disc. This track features Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker and Twilight
Time co-owner Nick Redman teamed with Twilight Time essayist Julie Kirgo,
herself a contributor to the must-own FILM NOIR: AN ENCYCLOPEDIC REFERENCE TO
THE AMERICAN STYLE. Kirgo places film
noir within the context of a post-war, post-nuclear society mired in
uncertainty. I was glad to hear her speak of film noir as a genre; I never have bought into the notion that film noir is something other than a
genre (i.e. "mood," "tone," "style"). Kirgo discusses
the Udo character's influence on Frank Gorshin, who modeled his Riddler's laugh
after Udo for the TV series Batman (1966-1967), while Redman suggests the
possibility that Widmark drew inspiration from the psychopathic villain The
Joker, who DC Comics introduced in 1940. As one would expect, there is some
duplication between the new commentary track and the one from Silver and
Ursini, but similar observations are kept to a minimum. The Redman/Kirgo track
is more descriptive than historical, not that the two voices do not pack plenty
of background information into their discussion. Kirgo jokingly makes repeated
references to the babysitter angle—were the film contemporary, assuredly more
would have been made about when the flame began to burn between Bianco and
Nettie! The other supplements include an isolated music track, the original
theatrical trailer (2m 20s), a Twilight Time catalogue selectable by year
(2011-2017) and a booklet essay from Kirgo.
KISS OF DEATH was
nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Actor in a Supporting Role
(Widmark) and Best Writing, Original Story (Eleazar Lipsky). The Hathaway
classic was retooled as the Western THE
FIEND WHO WALKED THE WEST (1958). The original noir title returned for director Barbet Schroeder's worthwhile 1995
remake, which starred David Caruso, Samuel L. Jackson and Nicolas Cage. The
screenwriting team of Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer also combined for the fine film noir RIDE THE PINK HORSE, released the same year as their original KISS OF DEATH.
