Kiss of Death (Fox Film Noir)
Actor(s):
Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, Richard Widmark, Taylor Holmes
Director(s):
Henry Hathaway
Label: 20th Century Fox
Publisher(s):
20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Binding: DVD
MPN: 2228354
Format(s): Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $10.49
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Editorial Reviews
Description
Henry Hathaway's directorial skills brought a heightened sense of realism to crime dramas in this classic 1947 original that marked Richard Widmark's Oscar -nominated debut. When a small time crook (Victor Mature) gets a twenty year sentence for robbery, he refuses to reveal his accomplices, even after a D.A. (Brian Donlevy) offers to help him. But he changes his mind once he learns that his wife has committed suicide and a psychopath (Widmark) has threatened his children.
Amazon.com
Richard Widmark's bravura debut as snickering gangster Tommy Udo, and particularly his infamous encounter with an old woman in a wheelchair, enjoys such pop cachet that the movie itself has been somewhat underrated. More's the pity. Henry Hathaway's third entry in 20th Century?Fox's series of post?WWII thrillers is just about the best of the bunch. These films incorporated the semidocumentary techniques and wondrously persuasive on-location shooting Hollywood learned from Italian neorealism and the wartime filming of some of its own best directors. Kiss of Death is more fictional than documentary in thrust, with a solid script by ace screenwriters Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer. But that only makes its imaginative, atmospheric use of real places and spaces--e.g., a superb opening robbery sequence in a New York skyscraper--the more remarkable.
Victor Mature belies his rep as one of the Hollywood star system's bad jokes with his intense performance as Nick Bianco, a career criminal driven to turn squealer. Nick's motivation is family values: although he had gone to Sing Sing (yes, they filmed there, too) as a stand-up guy, "the boys" failed to take care of his wife and daughters as promised, with devastating results. Despite the best efforts of an assistant D.A. (Brian Donlevy), Nick is forced to lay everything on the line to rescue his family's future. The movie abounds in evocative texture, thanks to the no-frills excellence of Norbert Brodine's camerawork and an exemplary supporting cast including Millard Mitchell (as a sardonic police detective), Karl Malden (another D.A.), and Taylor Holmes (a flannel-mouthed Mob shyster). Kiss of Death was remade twice, as a Western titled The Fiend That Walked the West and as a straight thriller again in the '90s. --Richard T. Jameson
Customer Reviews
exceptionally good film noir
This is exceptionally well scripted and directed. The dialogue is spare and to the point; almost none is included just for the sake of 'having people talking', and some long, almost silent scenes are among the most effective, rivetting one's attention. In addition, Victor Mature and Richard Widmark are both mesmerising in their different ways. Whoever said that Mature couldn't act? I have now seen him in three old films in the last couple of years ('I Wake Up Screaming', 'My Darling Clementine' and this one) and he is first rate in them all. Highly recommended.
Tommy Udo steals the show.
This is a solid movie, which has attained classic status simply on the strength of Richard Widmark's unforgettably over the top portrayal of the psychopathic antagonist, Tommy Udo. It would rate acceptable marks in any case, due to it's fine direction, solid performances, and gritty dialogue. Ahh, but Tommy, he has rescued the film from almost certain obscurity....
HENRY HATHAWAY, OPUS 33
****1/2 1947. Directed by Henry Hathaway. Richard Widmark, in his first role, earned a Golden Globe (Most promising newcomer) and an Academy award nomination, so does Eleazar Lipsky for the screenplay. Victor Mature accepts to become a snitch in order to be with his children. KISS OF DEATH is a classic film noir shot on location as often in movies produced by 20th Century Fox at that time. Classic scenes like the murder of Rizzo's mother by Widmark, the first hold-up or Richard Widmark's laugh already belong to history. Highly recommended and a valuable addition to your library.
I THOUGHT THEY WERE JUST MOVIES . . . . .
Funny, being born during WWII and growing up in the late 40s-early 50s, I thought movies such as this were just movies. I came of age in the midst of these black and white, stark reality jobs, that we now term 'noir'.
Yes, I'm aware the term was one applied by the French to describe some American movies after WWII, but believe me, the average viewer didn't call them 'noir' back then. They were just movies, and we expected to see them whenever we went to see a 'detective' show. Generally, if you did not see a western at the local bijou, you saw a movie similar to this one. They rather proliferated back then, now they have come to define an age.
I know I have seen this one before, but recently on the movie channels I have had the chance to see both A KISS BEFORE DYING and now KISS OF DEATH and just want to say how good it is to see them again. The actors, the scriptwriters, and the producer/directors are no longer with us to ever make these type movies again. As with the big band era, the film noir era has passed and will never pass this way again. But since it once did pass this way, we have these wonderful films on hand to relive it all.
Not everyone's 'cup of tea' no doubt, but I relish the films, with none being better than this one, KISS OF DEATH.
Semper Fi.
Kiss Of Death
The movie "The Kiss Of Death starring Victor Mature and Brian Donlevy and introducing Richard Widmark is a fine film of the noire genre. Richard Widmark one acclaim as Johnny Udo, psychopathic killer with a sinister laugh. I am a big Victor Mature fan. He does a great job as an ex-con who is asked by DA who is played by Brian Donlevy to try and pretend to be friends with Johnny Udo while trying to get the good on him. At first he doesn't want to do it but then he sees what kind of a man Johnny Udo is and he changes his mind. I believe anyone who likes a good drama with action will enjoy this movie. I give it five stars.
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