Friday, March 5, 2021 at 12:18:00 A.M. EST
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight ET and 10 a.m. ET is Stanley Kubrick’s Killer’s Kiss (1955), with Frank Silvera, Jamie Smith, and Irene Kane.
Film Noir Guide: “Produced, directed, edited, photographed, and written by the legendary Stanley Kubrick, Killer’s Kiss doesn’t have much of a plot.
“A down-and-out boxer (Smith) wants to marry a taxi dancer (Kane) after knowing her for only two days, but a lecherous small-time hood (Silvera) doesn’t appreciate being horned in on and sends some goons to work the boxer over. His bungling henchmen, however, mistake an innocent bystander for Smith and wind up killing the unfortunate man.
“Trying another ploy, they grab Kane and wait for Smith to show up looking for her. The acting is so-so, but the photography is excellent (especially during the boxing match, which is shot from every imaginable angle), and the enjoyable jazz score fools you into believing something’s really happening.”
David in TN: Contra Film Noir Guide, I think Killer’s Kiss is pretty good. It was Kubrick’s second feature, short at 67 minutes.
Frank Silvera was a fairly busy character actor. Smith was an unknown, almost his only credit. My understanding is Kane was a writer under a different name. We’ll see if Eddie Muller fills us in.
Kubrick filmed it on New York’s streets, sometimes shooting from a car without people knowing they are on camera. Some shots were at Penn Station. The scenes of Smith and Kane’s apartment were shot in the Bronx. you see what New York City looked like in 1954-55.
Boxing, prisons, gangsters, vampires and werewolves. Hollywood likes those topics for movies.
ReplyDeleteTCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 am ET is Andrew L. Stone's The Night Holds Terror (1955) with Jack Kelly, Hildy Parks, Vice Edwards, John Cassavetes, David Gross.
ReplyDeleteFilm Noir Guide: "Kelly, a businessman on his way home after a hard day at work, is kidnapped by a hitchhiker (Edwards) and his two cohorts (Cassavetes and Gross). Just when it seems that the psychos are going to kill him after finding only ten bucks on him, Kelly talks them out of it by promising to sell his car and giving them the two grand he expects to get for it. The car salesman, however, is unable to come up with the entire amount in cash so the thugs decide to hole up at Kelly's house until the bank opens the next morning. At the house, ladies man Edwards tries to force himself on Kelly's attractive wife (Parks0, while Kelly seethes and his two terrified kids huddle in their room. When the hoods discover that his father is a wealthy businessman, they get the bright idea of holding Kelly for ransom. Based on a true story, this is a taut, dramatic thriller, with Kelly, Cassavetes and Edwards, early in their careers, giving solid performances."
The family held hostage in their home was a common 1950's plot line, such as The Desperate Hours (1955). Vince Edwards commonly played bad guys in the 1950's before being TV's Ben Casey.