Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Norman Foster

Writers:

Leonardo Bercovici (writer)
Walter Bernstein (adaptation)

Release Date:

30 October 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir

Tagline:

A HUNTED MAN...A LOVE-HAUNTED WOMAN! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Fugitive Bill Saunders and lonely nurse Jane Wharton are crossed by fate when he hides out in her apartment.

Plot Keywords:

Nurse | Fugitive | Fistfight | Black Market | Drugs

Cast

Joan Fontaine	...	Jane Wharton
Burt Lancaster	...	William Earle 'Bill' Saunders
Robert Newton	...	Harry Carter
Lewis L. Russell	...	Tom Widgery
Aminta Dyne	...	Landlady
Grizelda Harvey	...	Mrs. Paton
Jay Novello	...	Sea Captain of Pelicano
Colin Keith-Johnston	...	Judge
Reginald Sheffield	...	Superintendent
Campbell Copelin	...	Publican
Leyland Hodgson	...	Tipster
Peter Forbes	...	Young Father

Also Known As:

Blood on My Hands (UK)
The Unafraid (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Norma Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Watching the Detectives (2007)

Doesn't quite live up to its lurid title...good performance by Fontaine...

What should have been a much more effective film with an absorbing, sometimes gripping story, is somehow turned into a tepid melodrama interesting only for the performances of the principal players--Burt Lancaster, Joan Fontaine and Robert Newton.

Basically, the story has hot tempered Lancaster running from the law and seeking shelter in Fontaine's apartment. Against her better judgment, she becomes involved with him but can't protect him from a blackmailer (Robert Newton) who has witnessed Lancaster's crime. Joan Fontaine gives a surprisingly strong performance in a confrontation scene with Newton that is the most gripping moment of the film. To tell any more would be to give the rest of the plot away.

As intense as Lancaster is, it's not a very well written role--there is definitely something lacking in the screenplay. Nor is the chemistry between him and Fontaine very strong or believable. She gives one of her better performances as the woman who just happens to cross paths with a killer.

The low key lighting gives the film a grim, film noir look that is appropriate for this kind of story, as does Miklos Rozsa's score although it does not rank with some of his best work. At best, it's a routine melodrama that could have been so much more.