Kiss of Death (1947)
Country: US
Technical: bw 98m
Director: Henry Hathaway
Cast: Victor Mature, Richard Widmark, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray
Synopsis:
A smalltime crook is caught and imprisoned for a jewel store robbery, refusing to 'turn stooley' on the reassurances of his venal attorney. However, when his wife commits suicide and his children are sent to an orphanage, he changes his mind, making him a marked man in the criminal fraternity.
Review:
A measured and sober, even sombre, crime drama, shot by Fox in a manner foreshadowing the Naked City idiom of actual locations and soundtrack restraint (a silent robbery scene, for example). It is mostly remembered for introducing Widmark as the smiling, snickering villain, Tommy Udo, in a performance that mesmerises, just as it teeters on the brink of self-parody. Mature holds it together well, and the deliberate pace has its merit in shadowing the generally realistic approach to a classic crime movie staple: whether the reforming criminal can stay on the right side of the law.
Country: US
Technical: bw 98m
Director: Henry Hathaway
Cast: Victor Mature, Richard Widmark, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray
Synopsis:
A smalltime crook is caught and imprisoned for a jewel store robbery, refusing to 'turn stooley' on the reassurances of his venal attorney. However, when his wife commits suicide and his children are sent to an orphanage, he changes his mind, making him a marked man in the criminal fraternity.
Review:
A measured and sober, even sombre, crime drama, shot by Fox in a manner foreshadowing the Naked City idiom of actual locations and soundtrack restraint (a silent robbery scene, for example). It is mostly remembered for introducing Widmark as the smiling, snickering villain, Tommy Udo, in a performance that mesmerises, just as it teeters on the brink of self-parody. Mature holds it together well, and the deliberate pace has its merit in shadowing the generally realistic approach to a classic crime movie staple: whether the reforming criminal can stay on the right side of the law.
Country: US
Technical: bw 98m
Director: Henry Hathaway
Cast: Victor Mature, Richard Widmark, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray
Synopsis:
A smalltime crook is caught and imprisoned for a jewel store robbery, refusing to 'turn stooley' on the reassurances of his venal attorney. However, when his wife commits suicide and his children are sent to an orphanage, he changes his mind, making him a marked man in the criminal fraternity.
Review:
A measured and sober, even sombre, crime drama, shot by Fox in a manner foreshadowing the Naked City idiom of actual locations and soundtrack restraint (a silent robbery scene, for example). It is mostly remembered for introducing Widmark as the smiling, snickering villain, Tommy Udo, in a performance that mesmerises, just as it teeters on the brink of self-parody. Mature holds it together well, and the deliberate pace has its merit in shadowing the generally realistic approach to a classic crime movie staple: whether the reforming criminal can stay on the right side of the law.