Killer's Kiss (1955)

Ready to catch a train to his hometown, a washed-up boxer tells us about the strange and twisty events that happened to him the past couple of days.

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writer:

Stanley Kubrick (story)

Stars:

Frank Silvera, Irene Kane, Jamie Smith

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Silvera	...	Vinnie Rapallo
Jamie Smith	...	Davey Gordon
Irene Kane	...	Gloria Price
Jerry Jarrett	...	Albert (as Jerry Jarret)
Mike Dana	...	Gangster
Felice Orlandi	...	Main Gangster
Shaun O'Brien	...	Landlord
Barbara Brand	...	Taxi Dance Lady
David Vaughan	...	Conventioneer #1
Alec Rubin	...	Conventioneer #2
Ralph Roberts	...	Bouncer #1
Phil Stevenson	...	Bouncer #2
Arthur Feldman	...	Policeman #1
Bill Funaro	...	Taxi Driver
Skippy Adelman	...	Mannequin Factory Owner

Storyline

Prize-fighter Davy Gordon intervenes when private dancer Gloria Price is being attacked by her employer and lover Vincent Raphello. This brings the two together and they get involved with each other, which displeases Raphello. He sends men out to kill Davy, but they instead kill his friend. Gloria is soon kidnapped by Raphello and his men, and it is up to Davy to save her.

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Plot Keywords:

railway station | woman wears a bustier | dancer | boxer | taxi dancer | 

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Taglines:

EXPOSED! The Mobs, Molls and Mayhem of New York's Clip-Joint Jungle!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the dream sequence, Stanley Kubrick used the negative image instead of the developed footage. This scene has been likened to the space corridor of "2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)."

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Goofs

When Dave is reading the letter on the subway, the narration of the letter obviously very different from what is written on the page.

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Quotes

Gloria Price: It's a mistake to confuse pity with love.

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Connections

References Flame and the Flesh (1954)

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Soundtracks

Oh, Susanna
(uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster
Performed by one of the conventioneers on a harmonica

User Reviews

Interesting early Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick's career really took off in 1956, upon the release of his first masterpiece; "The Killing", after which he would go on to make many much loved cinema classics such as "Dr Strangelove", "The Shining" and "A Clockwork Orange", to name a few. This movie is, however, no masterpiece; but that's not to say it's without it's plus points.

First and foremost, this movie is admirable for it's directing, which is excellent. Of course Stanley Kubrick would go on to show himself as a genius behind the camera, and this movie is an early taste of that genius in the directorial department. Secondly, despite the B-grade cast, the acting is not bad at all. It's not marvelous, but considering the cast's accomplishments, previously and after this movie was made, it's better than one would expect.

One of the movie's major flaws, however, is its lack of ideas. There are some nice ideas in the film, such as the part where Gloria tells her story to a backdrop of her sister doing ballet, and the Rear Window style way that the Gloria and Davy meet, but as the film is only 67 minutes long, it felt at times that Kubrick was spending too long on certain sequences, which is a problem if the movie is as short as this one is as it looked as though Kubrick was just dragging things out in order to meet an acceptable running time. That might be so bad in a longer film, but here it's not good.

This movie is a nice, taut little thriller and is definitely recommended to people that want to see some early Kubrick and thereby see how he developed as a filmmaker, but it's not a great film and I don't recommend going into this movie expecting it to be one.

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 October 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kiss Me, Kill Me

Filming Locations:

3156 Perry Avenue, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Minotaur Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

67 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1