The Death Kiss (1932)

Murder during film shoot sparks search for a killer.

Director:

Edwin L. Marin

Writers:

Madelon St. Dennis (book) (as Madelon St. Denis), Barry Barringer (screen play)

Stars:

Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Adrienne Ames

Cast

Complete credited cast:
David Manners	...	Franklyn Drew
Adrienne Ames	...	Marcia Lane
Bela Lugosi	...	Joseph Steiner
John Wray	...	Detective Lieut. Sheehan
Vince Barnett	...	Officer Gulliver
Alexander Carr	...	Leon A. Grossmith
Edward Van Sloan	...	Tom Avery
Harold Minjir	...	Howell
Barbara Bedford	...	Script Girl
Al Hill	...	Assistant Director
Harold Waldridge	...	Charlie (as Harold Waldrige)
Wade Boteler	...	Sergeant Hilliker
Lee Moran	...	Todd

Storyline

While filming the closing scene of "The Death Kiss", leading man Myles Brent is actually killed. Having played around with, or been married to, most of the women connected with the movie studio, there are lots of suspects. When leading lady Marcia Lane is arrested for the killing, her suiter, a studio writer, starts to investigate the killing in order to prove her innocence.

---

Plot Keywords:

pre code film | damsel in distress | deception | murder | public domain | 

---

Taglines:

IT'S FULL OF BIG NAMES! (original poster-all caps)

---

Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance

---

Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

---

Goofs

About 12 minutes into the movie Franklyn Drew digs a bullet out of the wall and identifies it as a ".38 caliber center fire." It is impossible to tell from the bullet alone whether it was fired from a center fire or rim fire cartridge. Such a claim could lead to confusion in identifying the gun that fired the bullet.

---

Quotes

Det. Lt. Sheehan: What are you and that Keystone Cop doing here?
Officer Gulliver: Now lookie here, Sheehan, you can't talk that way about me. Remember, I'm Chief of the Studio Police and I got rights! I... I...
Det. Lt. Sheehan: Nature in the raw.

---

Connections

Referenced in Hollywood Boulevard (1976)

User Reviews

A Fun Mystery With a Very Effective Early Technical Gimmick

"The Death Kiss" (1933) should be a nice surprise for those who like traditional murder mysteries. It's a movie within a movie and both have the same title, which refers to the on- screen murder of movie star Myles Brent during the filming of the last scene of a film called the "The Death Kiss". He is shot while playing a scene in which he is shot, a development that was about to be written off by the police as a prop man's accident until they discovered that the bullet was a different caliber than the guns being used in the production.

The police then turn their attentions to his co-star and ex-wife Marsha Lane (Andienne Ames) which inspires her boyfriend (David Manners) to do some amateur sleuthing to track down the real murderer.

"The Death Kiss" could qualify as the first buddy picture as he is closely assisted by his friend Officer 'Gully' Gulliver (Vince Barnett), a bumbling studio security guard who provides the film's comic relief. The mix of serious murder mystery and comedy is in perfect proportion and Barnett gives a truly exceptional performance. Much of the humor comes from the pair's ability to stay just ahead of the police, much to the irritation of the detectives doing the investigation and to the crowing delight of Gully.

There are an array of suspects (Brent would not have won a popularity contest) besides Miss Lane including studio executives Joseph Steiner (Bela Lugosi), Leon Grossman (Alexander Carr) and Tom Avery (Edward Van Sloan). Lugosi's name and likeness headline the DVD package and while his part is substantial, it is still just that of a supporting character.

There are enough red herrings to keep the viewer guessing and the pacing is quite fast even with limited action sequences. There are significant advantages associated with setting a screenplay in a movie studio. The cost savings in set design, the appeal of the movie industry to viewers, and the fact that the writer can draw upon occupations with which he is familiar to give the script convincing authenticity.

One thing to watch for is the use of color in a few sequences in this otherwise black and white film. When there is a fire in the projection booth and later a chase scene with flashlights, the producers enhanced the effect with an amber tint. This was applied to the prints (at least some of them) by stencils, which masked the majority of the frame so artists could color in the portion that was to be amber. Since there are 24 frames per second it was only necessary to apply this process to every other or every third frame to get the effect, but it was still an extremely labor-intensive process. "The Death Kiss" was not the first time this was done but it was the most effective because the cinematography made excellent use of light and shadow, with the contrast nicely enhancing the effect of the amber frames. Technically this gimmick was a forerunner of stuff like "Smell-o-vision", "Emergo", "Illusion- o", and "Sensurround".

The DVD and TMC prints are serviceable but obviously worse for the wear. There are a number of audio and video dropouts but the story seems to be complete.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 January 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Death Kiss

Filming Locations:

California Tiffany Studios - 4516 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

K.B.S. Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min (copyright length) 71 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White Color (hand-colored sequences)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1