A Kiss Before Dying (1956) Reviews

• A Precursor to "Psycho"

  twanurit2004-12-10

  This is a beautifully photographed, in CinemaScope and Deluxe Color, hauntingly scored, gripping thriller, with four lead actors who were, curiously, 20th Century Fox contract players, yet the film was released by United Artists. Robert Wagner gives the performance of a lifetime as the coolly handsome psychopathic college man residing with his mother (Mary Astor) and a plan for money, by dating an heiress (Joanne Woodward). In a framework similar to "Psycho" (1960), (and a mid-section foreshadowing "Vertigo" with its high building, a fall, and introducing another woman), a long prologue results in a ghastly demise. Woodward's savvy sister (Virginia Leith), with some help from a professor (Jeffrey Hunter) searches for a killer, almost gets done in herself in a suspenseful climax. "Psycho" similarities include an tracking-shot opening of two lovers distraught in bed, two sisters, two darkly handsome leading men, a mother, two murders. 1950s style icons (still quite retro today) are seen in startling abundance here: shiny red convertibles, college sweaters, slinky theme song, swoop skirts, the jukebox, poodle haircuts, greasy kids stuff hairstyles, etc. Woodward is wonderful and tragic as the first sister, Hunter offers able support, George MacCready is sturdy as the girls' father, while Astor, in a handful of scenes, conveys a true picture of a slightly slatternly, doting mother. The stunning Leith basically carries the last half of the picture and acquits herself well; she never really got her due in films, but is seen in the best advantage here. Also, this movie can be seen as a companion piece to the 1950s Italy set "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (1999). Chilling, very well-presented.

• A well-delivered clash between genres and expectations

  bob the moo2005-09-25

  When his girlfriend Dorie becomes pregnant, Bud Corliss knows that he will be trapped into a marriage and a child that he didn't want. Telling her to keep the whole thing a secret, Bud fools Dorie up onto the roof of a civic building before pushing her to her death and making it look like suicide. The police see it as open and shut but Dorie's sister smells a rat and believes that Dorie was going to the building to be married and that her intended groom was the one that killed her. Opening with a theme music and bright colours that suggested a 1950's comedy, I was worried that I had been misled by the title that suggested much darker fare. However the story quickly unfolds with a young couple in trouble, suggesting it would be a dated melodrama; but as the story progresses it does become more sinister and much more of a dark thriller. The story doesn't always ring true but it is more than enough to engage and makes for a good base for the film even if it is other aspects that make it stronger. Oswald's direction is a big plus because he mixes styles and genres well. He uses the colours and sets of a typically 1950's melodrama but at times the lighting, shot framing and music of a noir of sorts. The clash of genres works well, complimenting one another and making it seem more tense for being such a tough story within such a colourful and homely world of college students. The performances are roundly good. Wagner steals the show of course with a ruthless and selfish performance that could easily have been an one-note affair were it not for the script and Wagner's ability to bring out character in a couple of strong scenes (including an excellent one with his mother at a pool party). Woodward is convincingly naïve and works well with her character but I didn't think Leith suited Ellen that well, although I didn't totally buy her character either. Hunter is solid if uninspiring and the support cast are pretty much the same. Overall this is an enjoyable film that works thanks to strength in several areas. The story is engaging enough but it was the direction, visual style and use of music that impressed me more. Add to this a dominating central performance from Wagner and you have a film that is worth checking out.

• "Are Those Girls Gonna Be Surprised!"

  stryker-51999-07-07

  An evil young man resorts to murder in his efforts to get his hands on an heiress's fortune. Unluckily for him, the heiress's sister and a smart young college lecturer smell a rat ... This is a sumptuous mid-50's all-American movie, set in a world of sorority houses, open-top cars and drug stores. The boys have shiny, well-oiled hair and the girls wear big skirts. Courting couples meet on the bleachers at the football field between classes. Shot in cinemascope, the film's aspect ratio means that television (where I saw it) does it a disservice: all too often, dialogues are conducted between two noses at either extreme of the screen. The colour is 'de luxe', so the credits tell us, and indeed the look of the film is rich and bright. The film is a standard thriller, based on an Ira Levin novel. It is well put together, and has a nice, slinky jazz score, including the theme song (playing on the juke box during one of Bud's dates with Dory). The opening is impressive. The camera pans around a student's bedroom, neatly setting the scene for us. We hear (but do not see) a girl crying. Gradually, as the characters are revealed, we get the message - Dory has found out that she is pregnant by Bud. She has a wealthy father, but is prepared to forego comfort if the man she loves will marry her. Bud is much more interested in the family money. Even though Bud is despicable, we find ourselves wanting his scheme to succeed, so cleverly are we drawn into his plan. He surreptitiously studies poisons in the university library, then by a cunning ploy gains access to the chemistry lab. He composes a note in Spanish, ostensibly a piece he needs to translate for his class, then gets Dory to write out the English for him. She doesn't realise it, but she is writing her own 'suicide note'. Gerd Oswald's direction is strong on body language throughout the movie, and we cannot help but see the significance when Dory (played by Joanne Woodward) goes to kiss Bud, and he flinches. A very young Robert Wagner portrays Bud as a slick, incredibly handsome villain with no feelings. He feigns affection for women, but is capable of none. When he cajoles his mother (Mary Astor) into choosing a tie for him, he craftily changes it for a preferred one when her back is turned. The director is adept at conveying information without words. When Bud looks at the municipal building and marvels at its height, we know straight away what he is planning. When he is on the roof, the tension is sustained commendably. Victoria Leith plays Ellen, Dory's sister. In another fine 'body language' moment, we see her subtly shrugging off her father's attempt to comfort her. We gather from this that Ellen blames him for what happened to Dory. The plot contains some elements which stretch our credulity. If the ending is contrived and highly improbable, at least the incremental steps by which doubt invades Ellen's awareness are cleverly done. Is it a coincidence that Jeff Hunter (Gordon Grant) and Robert Wagner look so alike? Or are they meant to represent two facets of intelligence - one cold and selfish, the other beneficent and altruistic? In the scene just before the engagement party, they are even dressed identically. Verdict - A cleverly-executed murder flick.

• Wagner's best film, a Hitchcockian B-Classic

  FilmFlaneur2004-05-03

  Gerd Oswald's excellent film was his first and perhaps his best, as well as arguably providing Robert Wagner's finest hour. Like Tony Curtis was to do a decade later in The Boston Strangler (1968), screen pretty-boy Wagner took the role of the cunning sociopath Bud Corliss partly in an attempt to prove he could act darker parts than his fans had been used to. Taken from a novel by Ira Lewin (whose work also inspired Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives and The Boys From Brazil) the film is a well mounted, taut B-movie, albeit shot widescreen in Deluxe Color by no less a talent than Lucien Ballard, who later went on to do sterling work for such directors as Sam Peckinpah. His crisp cinematography reveals a land dressed in bright open colours, where American meritocracy is secure and, on the surface at least, all seems right. As such, it carries echoes of contemporaneous romantic fluff such as Pillow Talk as well as some of the late, luscious films by Douglas Sirk. Watching A Kiss Before Dying however is a wholly different experience from Sirk's ironic stagings of smug Eisenhower society, this despite the presence of a clean-cut, pipe smoking Professor Grant (Jeffrey Hunter). His academic character, perhaps the least convincing in the film, is more of a straightforward stereotype than the German director would ever manage, but acts as a counterweight to Corliss' callous misuse of his own good looks and intelligence. Self-satisfied and entirely free of remorse, the student is thus a much more modern figure than the academic, and his presence undermines Grant's rather ineffectual 1950s' decency. Oswald's minor classic focuses on this cold heart - an individual whose ambition, and eventual downfall, might have found its roots in such earlier films as Ulmer's Ruthless (1948), as well as it anticipates some of Hitchcock's work. Although it is only mentioned briefly, Corliss has obviously been affected by his experience in the war ("It's my side where I was wounded," he says at one point, and one of the first things we see are military photographs.) The implication, typical of noir, is that the conflict has affected his mental state. Corliss is a promising student, who lives alone with his mother (Mary Astor). As the film begins he is learning of the unexpected pregnancy of his girlfriend Dorothy (Joanne Woodward). Despite his outward concerns and pledge to marry the woman, he secretly plots to dispose of her before moving on to her sister Ellen (Virginia Leith). At the same time Ellen suspects that her sister's eventual suicide was not entirely as it seemed and does some investigating with the help of the obliging Grant... As others have noticed, there are certain intriguing similarities between A Kiss Before Dying and the plot of Psycho which came four years later: both films begin with furtive discussion of lovers discussing the implications of illicit sex, go on to feature the premature demise of a blonde and then, in a second half, the investigation of mystery by a determined female relative. There are echoes of Vertigo (1958) too in the dangerous heights of City Hall where Budd finally commits his heinous crime, and more than a taste of Hitchcock in some of the of the suspenseful machinations of the plot - most especially in the chemistry supply room scene where Corliss furtively steals his poisons, or during the tense roof scene. It's somehow apt that Mary Astor, who played the calculating Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941), should be cast as Corliss' mother in the present film - although even she is much reduced and manipulated by him, facing a final humiliation on the doorstep of the Kingship residence. Her son is at heart a ruthless social climber, for whom the earlier 'problem' posed by Dorothy was just another obstacle to his inevitable rise to social success, just as his mother's dress sense is then another. As a schemer he leaves little to chance, as is evidenced by his careful arrangement of events in the first half of the film and detailed knowledge of the Kingship mining operation he casually reveals at the close. When he is undone, it is by misfortune rather than carelessness - a fact that makes his success all the more frightening as it is compromised by chain of chance more than anything else. As Corliss, Wagner is entirely convincing in a ruthless part that, at first sight, would have been ideal casting for Dennis Hopper. Beneath the familiar clean-cut image lies a calculating, black heart, and he suggests this by effective mannerisms, such as the throwaway, amoral shrug reflected in the jeweller's shop window at the end of his second meeting with Dorothy, or by holding his arms high and clear, as if in supplication to his own genius, as she makes her final descent. Years down the line, after the amiable dross of such later work as Hart To Hart (1980-5), it is a shock to see the actor create such an impact in what was a unique role for him. Oswald's direction is frequently distinguished by the use of long takes: the first scene for instance, which contains a fair chunk of dialogue, consists just of a pan over some photographs and one other extended set up. Part of this can be put down to necessary economies of shooting. In some scenes, especially those alone between Corliss and Dorothy, the refusal to cut away acts as if to trap the participants in their own moral universe, while the unflinching lens demands that the viewer make judgement. (There are sly visual jokes contained within shots too, as when at the conclusion of Corliss' second meeting at the sports ground, after her 'trip' down the bleachers, he is framed under a 'speed kills' road sign, or when Corliss and Ellen later flirt and in the wrap up shot the camera reveals they have been chatting under a tombstone-shaped rock.) This is not altogether to the film's advantage; in the middle section of the film, when Corliss is largely absent, some scenes drag a little. Occasionally Oswald changes pace, such as when he uses a fast dolly-in on the suicide note. But one senses that here the exposition would have benefited from shorter cutting, as the earnest Ellen and nice-but-dull Grant are not a very dynamic couple when alone on screen. However this is a minor quibble in a film that relishes a broad mise-en-scène, typical of 1950s' melodrama. George Macreedy, who plays Leo Kingship, gives excellent, grouchy support. It is his character that undergoes the only real metamorphosis in the film. His daughter of course learns that things are not really what they seem, as she discovers what Budd is really like under the tailored surface. Kingship Senior's education is far more profound, as he almost loses her through his over-protectiveness and intransigence. In one respect he is like Corliss: both have seen the nexus of family ties fray, leading to personality problems. At the end of the film, as he escorts his daughter away from the last encounter, Kingship does so more in sorrow than with the anger he would have earlier displayed. Here, as events take a final turn, the desolation of the mines provides a physical corollary for the stark moral drama being played out between the principals. A Kiss Before Dying was remade by James Dearden in 1991, an unsatisfactorily production that entirely missed the period intensity and compulsiveness of the original. The DVD offers little other but a trailer, although the widescreen transfer is splendid.

• Upscale Ed Wood?

  princehal2005-12-07

  Robert Wagner as a psychopathic killer, Jeffrey Hunter as a math teacher/cop, Joanne Woodward as a clinging dishrag, Virginia Leith as a sexy prospective victim and Mary Astor as a dowdy mom? It's so strange I began to wonder if it was some kind of demented masterpiece. It starts with perky titles promising a silly romantic comedy, then has a long dialogue scene between Bob and Joanne all in one take, a tumble by a pregnant woman that *doesn't* result in a miscarriage (surely a movie first), and indescribably odd moments like a sixtyish woman in a see-through blouse sashaying through an intense dialogue scene that pauses to honor her passing, and a postal clerk whose delicate cough serves as a Pinteresque interruption to an otherwise inconsequential line. It was Gerd Oswald's first movie and as far as I can tell he never did anything of note after-wards, but he might have been an Ed Wood buried under a studio budget. It's on DVD and should be seen in its original Cinemascope glory.