A Kiss Before Dying

Rating:
Summary: Classic thriller from Gerd Oswald!
Review: "A Kiss Before Dying" is an outstanding thriller with Hitchcock-level suspense courtesy of Gerd Oswald, a director much better known for his TV work on "The Outer Limits" and "Star Trek." Robert Wagner is excellent as a sociopathic killer who carries out the perfect crime but is done in by his own ambition and cleverness. The whole thing could have become ridiculous very easily, owing to certain gaps in story logic, but the dead-serious tone, the fast pacing and editing, and the high artistry of all involved make this a classic, if unusually elegant, piece of film noir.

Rating:
Summary: Classic thriller from Gerd Oswald!
Review: "A Kiss Before Dying" is an outstanding thriller with Hitchcock-level suspense courtesy of Gerd Oswald, a director much better known for his TV work on "The Outer Limits" and "Star Trek." Robert Wagner is excellent as a sociopathic killer who carries out the perfect crime but is done in by his own ambition and cleverness. The whole thing could have become ridiculous very easily, owing to certain gaps in story logic, but the dead-serious tone, the fast pacing and editing, and the high artistry of all involved make this a classic, if unusually elegant, piece of film noir.

Rating:
Summary: KISS BEFORE DYING
Review: Great fun! I enjoyed so much to see Bob Wagner so young and scary. Jeff Hunter's part is so small(sorry!). After all other comments I just want to inform future buyers that the DVD has both versions of the movie (standard and widescreen)something to consider when you still don't have a Widescreen TV but is planning to buy one soon. I had to import a copy once it's not available in my country. Worth every cent. Buy it!

Rating:
Summary: Each kiss a prelude to....DEATH!
Review: I always thought Robert Wagner deserved a better film career than he got, as he's an excellent actor and did a number of movies, including All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960), and The Longest Day (1962), before transitioning to television in the late 60's working on shows like It Takes A Thief and his signature role as Jonathan Hart of the Hart to Hart series. Remember, back in the day it was looked as a major step down to go from films to television, a similar, contemporary comparison being that of working in theatrical releases and then finding yourself in direct to video market hell (Lou Diamond Phillips) or voice-overs for video games (Ray Liotta). Work is work, I suppose, and A Kiss Before Dying (1956) is certainly one of Wagner's finer film roles, in my opinion.

Based on a novel by Ira Levin (Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives), A Kiss Before Dying was directed by Gerd Oswald, one of the more prominent directors in the early days of television, working on such shows as Rawhide, Bonanza, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, and Star Trek, to name a few. The film stars, as I mentioned before, a very young Robert Wagner, Joanne Woodward, her next being The Three Faces of Eve (1957), Mary Astor (The Maltese Falcon), Jeffrey Hunter (The Searchers), George Macready (The Big Clock), and Virginia Leith, who saw her career bottom out six years later in the seminal sci-fi schlocker The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962). Also appearing is Robert Quarry, who would later achieve a cult-like following for his starring role in Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) and its' follow up, The Return of Count Yorga (1971).

The film opens on a young couple in a small room, the woman weeping softly on the bed, and the man looking as if to console her. The woman's name is Dorothy Kingship (Woodward), and the man is Bud Corliss (Wagner). As the scene presented itself, I took a wild stab in my mind as to what was going on, and I was right...the girl has learned she's pregnant, and now she's broken the news to her boyfriend. Bud seems to offer his reassurances that he'll do right by her, and she accepts them, but to the viewer his words (and actions) seemed to be tinged by a sinister quality, one someone who is blinded by love may not notice. We later find out Dorothy comes from money, and her father (Macready), a stern man, would look poorly on her condition, cutting off any financial support. We later learn Bud's not so much in love with Dorothy, but the wealth her family could provide, and now that the milk from his potential cash cow has soured, due to Dorothy's condition, he must find a way to extricate himself from this situation (can you say murder?), and does so, with a great deal of meticulous, planning. Soon Dorothy's sister, Ellen, who's not convinced the evidence around her sister's death is as clear cut as the police would believe (they thought it suicide), looks into the matter herself, uncovering the well hidden tracks of a cold, ruthless killer, one who's aware of her every move, and won't let anything stand between him and what he believes is rightfully his...

I really enjoyed this film...the contrast between Robert Wagner's boyish, all-American good looks and his characters' cold, relentless malevolent drive in achieving his goals was really creepy. He was smart, charming, always seemed to know the right thing to say, and incredibly focused on the details, wary of leaving anything that might lead back to himself. His willingness to do whatever he has to in maintaining his deception is beyond what many could even begin to fathom, even managing to keep his own mother in the dark (which is no easy task, for any of you out there with a mother should be able to attest). Rarely have I seen such an ugly, rotten-to-the-core being hidden by such a handsome and absorbing façade, except maybe in the Omen films (especially the last one with Sam Neill). Everyone else did reasonably well, although I felt casting Macready as the father seemed a bit too obvious, and Hunter's character, as the tutor/junior police investigator, seemed more of a plot contrivance rather than a character. Oswald does a wonderful job directing, and while the story is slow moving at first, it worked well to allow us to really study Wagner's character, the depths of his roguish villainy, and also to set up Woodward's character for a spectacularly shocking demise (don't watch the trailer prior to watching the film, as it will spoil this). Ahhh, but even the most meticulous of plans can come unraveled, especially those based on deception, and soon Bud finds certain loose threads may be his undoing. The ending was theatrically sensational, although I've read that some felt it was a little too over-the-top, ill-befitting the subtle nature of the story, but I thought it was aptly appropriate given the diabolical nature of Wagner's character. One thing that kind of puzzled me is based on Wagner's character's nature for meticulousness, I thought it strange that he should flub his initial, carefully crafted efforts by getting Dorothy pregnant. I know sex ed wasn't focused on as much in the 50's as it may be now, but seeing as how Bud's cousin worked in a pharmacy, I would have thought obtaining prophylactics wouldn't have been that big of a deal...oh well...

The widescreen picture on this DVD looks very good, although there was a strange event during a few of the outside shots resulting in a weird, yet brief `shimmer' effect (you'll know it when you see it). I thought the audio decent, but a little too soft for my tastes, as I had to turn up the volume. The only special feature available is an annoying, talky trailer (avoid before watching the film).

Cookieman108


Rating:
Summary: one of the best books to movies made
Review: I first read this story in a 1972 doubleday mystery volume. When I found it was a movie I was hesitant about watching as most books and movies just don't follow each other closely. This movie certainly does and wow, it is a chiller. It will keep you on the edge of your seat and is well worth watching and reading over and over again. This is a great story by Mr. Levin and movie by the director who made it.

Rating:
Summary: Did not see it.
Review: I love Robert Wagner and have been trying to obtain his videos of the series "It takes a thief" If you can locate these tapes for me I would gladly purchase them. Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Fun!
Review: I think nobody reviewed the dvd edition yet, so I'll start saying that the anamorphic widescreen transfer is fine, colours are not drab and sharpness is very good. I did not check the full-screen side of the disc.
I'm not sure the movie itself comes out so well but it sure is fun. Jeffrey Hunter playing some kind of part-time detective college professor, glasses and all, is something to be seen. And legendary Mary Astor is always a delight, she only appears in a couple of scenes though. Couldn't this mother/son relationship be a prelude to the one in "Psycho"? And what about killing the leading lady halfway the movie and having her sister investigate her death?
Well, plot holes, stilted directing, goofs (the clouds and the light in the important rooftop scene, obviously shot in different days or perhaps different times of the same day) and all, this is really fun to see (and Robert Wagner is so thin).

Rating:
Summary: A nasty little gem
Review: Stunningly photographed in rich, deep technicolor, and with the delicious contrast between the sweet surface of the privileged white middle classes in the fifties and the poisonous, murderous greed of some young, imperiousness and stupidity of some parents, and the shallowness of a gross materialistic society wallowing in its consumption of goods, it is a little gem worthy of comparison to Hitchcock. A film to be relished.

Rating:
Summary: Bollywood Movie "Baazigar" is a remake of this movie
Review: The India based Bollywood Movie "Baazigar" is a remake of this movie...

Rating:
Summary: Bollywood Movie "Baazigar" is a remake of this movie
Review: The India based Bollywood Movie "Baazigar" is a remake of this movie...