KISS OF DEATH (1947, USA, 99m, 12) ***½
Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller
dist. Twentieth Century Fox; pr co. Twentieth Century Fox; d. Henry Hathaway; w. Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer (based on the novel ‘The Hoodlum’ by Eleazar Lipsky); pr. Fred Kohlmar; ph. Norbert Brodine (B&W | 1.37:1); m. David Buttolph; ed. J. Watson Webb Jr.; ad. Leland Fuller, Lyle R. Wheeler.
cast: Victor Mature (Nick Bianco), Brian Donlevy (Assistant D.A. Louis D’Angelo), Coleen Gray (Nettie Cavallo), Richard Widmark (Tommy Udo), Taylor Holmes (Earl Howser), Howard Smith (Warden), Karl Malden (Sgt. William Cullen), Jay Jostyn (District attorney), Anthony Ross (Big Ed Williams), Mildred Dunnock (Mrs. Rizzo), Millard Mitchell (Detective Shelby), Temple Texas (Tommy’s Girl), J. Scott Smart (Club 66 Owner), Wendell K. Phillips (Tony ‘Pep’ Mangone).
Tightly directed, if occasionally melodramatic, film noir sees Mature, as jewel thief Nick Bianco, offered parole in exchange for information about one of his old partners in crime. He reluctantly cooperates with district attorney Louis D’Angelo (Donlevy), who’s trying to take down violent murderer Tommy Udo (Widmark). But when Udo goes free despite the district attorney’s best efforts, Bianco and his wife, Nettie (Gray), are in the killer’s sights, and he’ll stop at nothing to settle the score. Chiefly remembered for Widmark’s astonishing debut performance as a giggling psychotic killer, who thinks nothing of pushing a wheelchair-bound old lady down a flight of stairs. Mature gives an effective, but sometimes mannered, performance whilst Hathaway conjures much suspense from the scenario, including the impressive opening and closing sequences. Scenes, which would have added further depth to the story were cut by censors. Remade in 1995 and filmed as the Western THE FIEND WHO WALKED THE WEST (1958).
AAN: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Richard Widmark); Best Writing, Original Story (Eleazar Lipsky).
