Kiss of Death (Fox Film Noir) dvd movie.|
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List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $7.99 You Save: $6.99 Features • Closed-captioned • Color • Dolby • Dubbed • DVD-Video • Full Screen • Subtitled • NTSC In Theaters : 27 August, 1947 DVD Release : 06 December, 2005 |
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Kiss of Death (Fox Film Noir) description 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 |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | Kiss of Death Movie Review |
| Shot on location in New York, which few films could claim back in 1947, Henry Hathaway's Kiss of Death is a sensationally thrilling film noir that features one of the most memorable movie villains. A typical hard-boiled gangster film, Kiss of Death sports the essential elements of classic noir, including a confused anti-hero, devious villains, gunplay and action, incompetent cops and sets that cast shadows on everything that steps past the screen.
Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) is a common mob criminal with a stirring sense of decency, hidden beneath his stone-like demeanor. Caught during a jewelry store heist, he refuses to rat out his accomplices and is sentenced to a harsh term in Ossining (that's Sing Sing for you gangsters). His silence comes from faith in his lawyer Howser, who regularly defends mobsters and assures him that he will get an early release and soon be reunited with his wife and kids. But as time passes and he hears nothing from his lawyer, he gets word from a fellow inmate that his wife has committed suicide and his kids were sent to an orphanage. Distraught at his loss and his inability to help his children, he decides to aid the district attorney with nailing the other criminals involved in his organization, in return for a lightened sentence. When he is able to provide sufficient evidence against mob hitman Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark), a trial is set, but the jury finds Udo innocent. Realizing the dangers of a stoolie, Bianco sends his newfound girlfriend Nettie (Coleen Gray) away with his kids for safe keeping so that he can settle the score against the vengeful Udo. Bianco is a classic noir anti-hero who is not an entirely bad guy but is caught in harsh times - he wants to go straight but is doomed to never be able to fully remove himself from the criminal lifestyle. Although he eventually breaks free from his sense of duty to the mob, the ilk that surrounds him returns to pull him back in. Seeing an anti-hero continually make mistakes despite his overall decency is nothing entirely new, but Bianco's gentle-giant temperament assists in defining a character that we can't help but admire and pity. In addition, the police incompetence forces the character to take on odds and stress that would shatter a man with less gumption. However, nothing can outdo Richard Widmark's show-stealing performance as the unhinged Tommy Udo, a villain so sinister not even a mother could love. Slapping dames, antagonizing the innocent, cackling like a madman at every word and throwing wheelchair-bound old ladies down flights of stairs is just the beginning of Udo's vicious character development, which leaves the audience grinning with glee at how innovative this gangster from the 40's was. His unique design was a stepping stone for future criminals who all outperform the protagonists we're supposed to be rooting for. "He's nuts and he's smarter than you are," quips Bianco to district attorney Louis D'Angelo (Brian Donlevy) after Udo weasels past the jury with charges of murder. A luxurious noir score also presides over the events of the luckless Bianco, with thanks to composer David Buttolph who carefully submerges us in the moody atmosphere of this hard-boiled thriller. Nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Widmark's outstanding supporting performance, and one for the original screenplay (with Nettie's sultry voice to narrate), Kiss of Death is indispensable film noir. - Mike Massie |
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