Wenn dich der Mörder küßt

"Once You Kiss a Stranger" is a fun little "Strangers on a Train" retread that swaps in a female antagonist and golf in place of tennis. Gamine, fashionable Carol Lynley takes on the neurotic Robert Walker role, and she has some delightfully eccentric moments. In the opening scene, Lynley shoots a child's beachball with a harpoon for daring to intrude on her private beach! She later tries to force her cat into the fridge for daring to lap up a bit of her glass of milk. Thankfully, she fails in her effort, only later to be seen reading a book on how to train one's cat. Her various attempts at vehicular manslaughter are also cheerfully bonkers: golf carts and dune buggies have never been so terrifying!

Despite the noirish plot, the movie is very brightly lit, with nary a shadow to be found. It has the very staid look of a made-for-TV movie, and would have benefited from an injection of directorial flair. Still, this curious thriller is great fun for lovers of camp.

A pointless ,useless "remake":although he modified Highsmith's novel,-he told it so in the foreword he wrote for the novel-Hitchcock kept the essential and produced a classic thriller you can watch again and again,with lots of memorable scenes (the murder seen on the glasses,the keys,the merry-go-round which goes crazy,and more).Plus a first-class performance by Robert Walker.

"Once you kiss a stranger" keeps the last word,but there's no more train ,the action takes place in the world of golf;why not after all? But by doing so ,without any suspense ,with a dreadful cast (Carol Lynley as a woman-child is so weird we do not know if she seriously plays or she's having fun with a stupid part of a girl who wants to get rid of her shrink -if you kill my shrink,I will do away with the top golf champion,and you will be number one!-,the director produced one of the worst thrillers of all time.

It's to state the obvious to write that you'd better choose "strangers on the train" (1951).As for Lynley ,take "Bunny Lake is missing" instead.

Bikini beauty Diana is all about the murdering and the gallows humor. Her psychiatrist Dr. Haggis thinks that she's turning into a psychopath. She overhears him planning to lock her up in an institution and wants him dead. She decides to recruit professional golf player Jerry Marshall. She knows that he hates his superior rival Mike Wilson and tells him to kill each other's target. He doesn't take her seriously until she kills Wilson with Jerry's golf club. Now, she expects him to kill her doctor.

The plot is essentially Strangers on a Train. It starts off well enough with crazy Diana. I like that she's a hot and crazy chick. The beach is a perfect place to start the movie. It all goes really well until she gets her kill and the movie passes to Jerry. I don't know anything about Paul Burke. He seems to be a solid veteran character actor who lasted 40 years in Hollywood. He's no pushover but he's not a great leading man either. He needs to be the equal to Carol Lynley. She is so beautiful and has such a crazy role that he can't match her. Every crazy thing she does only serves to separate from him. The movie basically stalls as Diana passes the baton to Jerry. He is not compelling enough to keep the narrative drive.

While I think that Alfred Hitchcock's reputation is a bit bigger than life, he really did make some terrific films. One of his better ones was "Strangers on a Train"...a classic is every way. So, in light of his reptuation, the ubiquity of this movie on TV, and how famous this movie is, you wonder WHO thought it was a good idea to remake the film! Yes, some lunkhead decided it was a good idea to remake such a famous film...and the results, predictably, are inferior in almost every way.

When the movie begins, it's obvious that the movie is going to be anything but subtle or clever. The script and director establish VERY early on that Diana (Carol Lynley) is a sadistic nut! I am almost surprised they didn't just have her act just like Cruella De Ville...it was THAT unsubtle and silly. And, more importantly, this isn't handled with the deftness Hitchcock used in his version. Yes, Diana is vicious and evil....and about as obvious to everyone as can be. In contrast, Robert Walker in "Strangers on a Train" SLOWLY was revealed to be disturbed...and it's one of his best acting roles. As for Lynley....well, she's pretty.

If you care, and I certainly didn't, the film is mostly the same story but with a HUGE twist...the innocent man is a pro golfer instead of a pro tennis player....what a HUGE change! Well, I hope you're picking up on my sarcasm here!!!

Overall, a terrible film when you can't help but see how inferior it is in every way to the source material. I cannot think of a good reason to watch it other than to admire Ms. Lynley in a bikini (she looked far nicer than Walker would have in a bikini) or if you want to see a ham-fisted version of an excellent original.

This film is for camp only. It is a lot of fun. You will keep asking yourself, "Why would luscious Carol Lynley stalk Paul Burke?"