Histoire d'un meurtre

"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.

This uneven variation on Alfred Hithcock's "Strangers On A Train" stays on the right track when its focus is on Carol Lynley: right from her striking Ursula Andress-like entrance from the sea in a tiny bikini, shooting a speargun at a little girl's beach ball (!), she creates a fantastic, psychotic character who taps into the secret male fantasy of being killed by a sexy, strong and crazy woman: it's probably a career-high role for her. Unfortunately, the film gets derailed by much less exciting scenes featuring the other characters, who are bland, as well as a tad too much golf. **1/2 out of 4.

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.

This movie can be a lot of fun, just don't take it too seriously. Several scenes border on camp, but I loved it anyway. Several late 1960's location shots of Los Angeles & Malibu (When it was still pretty, not like today, UGH!) also add to the ambiance. Carol Lynley sleeps with a golf pro to blackmail him into murdering her shrink. This movie is worth watching just to see Carol chase an elegantly dressed Martha Hyer on the beach while Carol tries to run her over with a dune buggy. (Those were the days! Try driving a dune buggy on a beach in California today!) This movie also boasts being way ahead of it's time with Carol owning her own VCR! (IN 1969!) Wow! She even caught her sexcapade on tape and this was years ahead of Rob Lowe. If this wasn't enough she visits her aunt and shows her the meaning of elderly abuse. They don't make 'em like this anymore, movie was panned at the time, but I think it's a lot of fun. Lush 60's sets and clothes, Los Angeles looking a hell of lot better than it does now, women slapping and trying to kill each other, cool 60's convertibles, what more could you ask for.

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.