As I was only 10 when A Kiss Before Dying came out in 1956, it was really a pleasure to see it crop up on my TV last week. I imagine in England in 1956 it would almost certainly have been X rated so unavailable to me, but I remember the title vividly. I love catching up with these previously unseen gems.
Some reviews here seem to come from people who see it from a modern perspective, even calling it a B feature, which is incorrect. This would never have been shown as a supporting film in it's time, I feel sure of that.
Filmed in glorious colour and cinemascope, Robert Wagner, a sort of Leonardo De Caprio of the fifties, plays a psychopathic social climber, intent on seducing two sisters, in order to gain access to their father's mining empire. The first sister to fall under his spell is played by Joanne Woodward in a very early film role when she clearly still lacked the extraordinary talent that she would quickly develop soon after.
Virginia Leith plays the second sister who also falls but is finally persuaded that Wagner is evil when she is introduced to Jeffrey Hunter, who works out what Wagner has been up to. George McCready plays the girl's father and the owner of the business Wagner is after. Mary Astor is Wagner's mother.
I was hooked from the start, although filmed in bright colour and having a real fifties American college school feel to it, some of the music is really suspenseful and increases the tension which may have been lacking otherwise.
I was surprised by how effective Robert Wagner was in this role, where he actually out acts Joanne Woodward, no easy feat. I was also even shocked by a couple of brutal scenes, not common in fifties movies.
If you enjoy mid century American movies, this is as good as many, perhaps not up to Hitchcock standards but still a cracking 90 minutes of good drama.
Some reviews here seem to come from people who see it from a modern perspective, even calling it a B feature, which is incorrect. This would never have been shown as a supporting film in it's time, I feel sure of that.
Filmed in glorious colour and cinemascope, Robert Wagner, a sort of Leonardo De Caprio of the fifties, plays a psychopathic social climber, intent on seducing two sisters, in order to gain access to their father's mining empire. The first sister to fall under his spell is played by Joanne Woodward in a very early film role when she clearly still lacked the extraordinary talent that she would quickly develop soon after.
Virginia Leith plays the second sister who also falls but is finally persuaded that Wagner is evil when she is introduced to Jeffrey Hunter, who works out what Wagner has been up to. George McCready plays the girl's father and the owner of the business Wagner is after. Mary Astor is Wagner's mother.
I was hooked from the start, although filmed in bright colour and having a real fifties American college school feel to it, some of the music is really suspenseful and increases the tension which may have been lacking otherwise.
I was surprised by how effective Robert Wagner was in this role, where he actually out acts Joanne Woodward, no easy feat. I was also even shocked by a couple of brutal scenes, not common in fifties movies.
If you enjoy mid century American movies, this is as good as many, perhaps not up to Hitchcock standards but still a cracking 90 minutes of good drama.