This classic film noir stars Victor Mature as Nick Bianco, a criminal viewers first see being caught red-handed for a robbery that will land him in prison for a fairly lengthy sentence. Tough and ready to take the punishment handed to him, Nick sneers when offered the chance of leniency in exchange for information. That eventually changes, however, when he wants a chance to see his young children. Passing along such valuable information will make him less of a friend to the dangerous Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark), which will put him in great peril if the word ever gets out.
Based on a novel by Eleazar Lipsky, Kiss Of Death is directed well by Henry Hathaway, who is fortunate enough to marry a solid script, written by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, to a pretty perfect cast. It also helps that, despite the 99-minute runtime, this thing seems to move with the speed and momentum of a racecar. It is, like many of the best noirs, a journey towards an inevitable final destination, but it's brilliantly paced, moving between some very different relationships between some of the main characters and a number of dark and deadly criminal acts.
Hathaway is also fortunate enough to get a brilliant feature debut performance from Widmark, who steals the show as the grinning and unhinged Udo, a character who emanates real menace while smiling at everyone around him. Easily up there alongside any of his future performances, and that is really saying something, Widmark portrays someone I would seriously consider as one of the most memorable villains in the history of film noir. Thankfully, the rest of the cast do well enough in their roles to avoid being completely overshadowed, with Mature excelling in his stoic turn, all too ready to spit in the eye of the authorities until he realises just how much he has to lose. There’s also Brian Donlevy being great as the Assistant D.A. who can offer some glimmer of hope to our lead, and Coleen Gray offers hope of a different kind, even if she seems a bit too sweet and naive in her very first scene (although it soon becomes clear that she knows exactly what situation she might be getting herself into, and her positivity might help to improve the situation for everyone she cares about).
There’s not a lot else for me to say about this film. I loved it, and I was thoroughly impressed by the presence of Widmark, yet equally impressed by those around him not being any less watchable (albeit in very different ways). There are a few different moments here that feel like classic noir key texts, with a major incident at about the halfway mark that is both darkly comedic and also genuinely distressing, and the cast are giving it their all in every scene.
Remade a couple of times, most notably with Nic Cage in a prominent role in the 1990s (more on that very soon), Kiss Of Death is a superbly entertaining character study of a man looking to change his fortunes at the risk of crossing a man even more entrenched in his life of criminality. I was tense, I was captivated, and I was kicking myself for not having seen this before today.
9/10
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