Kiss of Death (1947)

6/1/18. This is a classic film noir in which atmosphere and snarky looks from Widmark along with anxiety eyes from Mature go a long way. While over 70 years old, it's worth watching just for that iconic scene in which a woman in the wheelhair gets thrown down the stairs. Widmark won the Golden Globe for this and earned an Oscar nom. And, Mature gets to act with his clothes on, which is something for him, given the biblical epics he made at that time with major beefcake scenes.

Kiss of Death, is an amazingly brutal yet honest movie. How it got past American censors in 1947 was always a real mystery to me until Elia Kazan explained to me how it was achieved . Apparently, the original movie was lavishly endowed with scenes that would be sure to really infuriate the censors. But in addition, the movie also contained scenes that were almost as striking but slightly less liable to bring down the full wrath of these censors. So under the censor's direction, but strenuously fighting all these requests, many cuts were made as a compromise. But the movie still contained enough strong material to bring down the wrath of censors overseas who promptly responded by cutting the film to ribbons!. Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer spared no punches in their original seamy script. They managed to get away with it in the States by throwing the censors a sop when they eliminated all the scenes involving Patricia Morison, who played Maria Bianco (Nick's wife), plus Robert Keith (the judge), and Jay Jostyn (the D.A.). I hoped that these scenes would be restored in Fox's DVD release, but unfortunately, no such luck!

Well I did not get the point why this movie was called "Kiss of Death". I expect a "femme fatale" in a movie with that title but there was none. The movie is dated, an average film noir of the forties, but the acting of Richard Widmark is simply great and the wheelchair incident was quick but splendid for the forties. The loving father figure was quite overacted. Overall the movie is still worth seeing when you are a film noir fanatic. The script is OK but somewhat predictable, the shooting scene at the end was fast and quite unreal. But most of all ...the last spoken lines sounded irritating and should be better for a nowadays public. Normally I would give it a 5 but Widmark's performance tilted it up to a 6.

"Kiss Of Death" is a tense crime drama which tells the story of a criminal whose main preoccupations and motivations centre on his family. The plot is unveiled in a style which utilises both neo-realist and expressionist elements and the many scenes filmed on location in the actual places referred to in the story are very effective and contribute strongly to the authenticity of the events depicted. The original story was based on actual events and was written by Eleazar Lipsky who himself had previously been a New York Assistant District Attorney. The use of a documentary style to deliver a very human story could've been regarded as incongruous but this potential problem was avoided by using a sympathetic narration by Coleen Gray."Kiss Of Death" is notable for the fact that it provided Richard Widmark with his sensational screen debut which was so successful that it almost immediately elevated him to star status and won him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Eleazar Lipsky was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story.After carrying out a jewellery robbery, Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) is caught by the police as he tries to make his getaway. Assistant DA Louis D'Angelo (Brian Donlevy) encourages him to inform on his three accomplices who had successfully escaped from the crime scene, in exchange for a reduced sentence. Nick has a wife and two daughters but being confident that they would be looked after by his lawyer and accomplices when he is in prison, refuses to co-operate.Three years later, after his wife commits suicide and his daughters are placed in an orphanage, Nick is visited by Nettie (Coleen Gray) who used to be his girls' babysitter. She tells him that his wife had been attacked by one of his gang, Pete Rizzo and this provokes him into offering the Assistant DA all the information he had previously withheld. Due to the passage of time since the crime, the offer of a reduced sentence is no longer available but Nick does get to visit his girls if he agrees to provide some useful details about another unsolved case. Nick obliges by telling D'Angelo about an earlier robbery he carried out with Rizzo and then goes on to tell his lawyer that Rizzo had been the police's informer.Nick's lawyer, Earl Howser (Taylor Holmes) then contacts hit man Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark) who goes to Rizzo's home and gets angry when he's told by Rizzo's crippled mother that her son isn't in. In his fury, he binds Ma Rizzo up with some cable and despatches her, in her wheelchair, down a flight of stairs, killing her in the process. Nick had known Udo in prison and after meeting him again, gains enough information from him about the murder he'd carried out for D'Angelo to take the case to court. Nick, who by this time is married to Nettie and is settled in a regular job, bravely testifies but the work of a clever mob attorney ensures that Udo is acquitted. This puts Nick in mortal danger and sets the story up for its powerful finale.In the introduction to the movie, it's explained that as an ex-con, Nick had found it impossible to get a job and with Christmas approaching and no money for presents for his wife and children, he took part in the jewellery store robbery. This predicament is something with which most people can immediately empathise and as such provides a compelling start to this fine movie. Equally riveting, are the brilliantly tense sequences, particularly those seen when the gang are making their escape from the crime scene, when Nick waits nervously for Udo to come and hunt him down and also in the run up to the scene in which Nick and Udo have their final confrontation. The murder of Rizzo's mother is incredibly shocking and Udo's insane giggling is chilling.All the acclaim Richard Widmark received for his portrayal of Udo was thoroughly justified and his depiction of this psychopathic, drug fuelled maniac with his trademark giggle and crazy eyes is exceptional. Victor Mature's performance is perfectly understated as it conveys Nick's basic decency and stoicism without ever becoming maudlin or self-pitying. He was a man whose principles as a criminal prevented him from co-operating with the police, however, when a conflict arose between these principles and his family values, the latter took precedence. Coleen Gray is also faultless as the bubbly, good natured Nettie.