A Kiss Before Dying

He may not have been James Dean, but Robert Wagner delivers a career performance in this sorely neglected sleeper from 1956. The first half is a beautifully shaded dance of death as Wagner plots to rid himself of the inconveniently pregnant Joanne Woodward. He's all sincere insincerity from one rendezvous to the next, while she wants desperately to believe, even against all odds. Has there ever been a more cold-hearted manipulator of vulnerable feminine desires. Dory (Woodward) is all whiney expectations, while Wagner conceals ruthless ambition behind a pretty boy mask.

Director Gerd Oswald's staging of the first half is little short of brilliant, and had the filming been in appropriate black and white, a latter day noir classic would have resulted. Notice how subtly Woodward expects to be kissed atop the municipal building, the pinnacle of her girlish dreams, while Bud (Wagner) callously lights a cigarette, defiant of normal expectations. And what a gripping piece of morbid psychopathology is Wagner's slip-sliding through the chemistry lab as he prepares a toxic.potion for his lady love. Maybe in the last analysis, Bud's problem lies with his mother. The fixation is certainly not normal, as she senses in putting off his request for a "date". Yet Bud's social climbing ambitions are made tellingly clear that they are for mom as well as for himself.

Unfortunately, the second half reverts to standard Hollywood convention, the suspense subsiding along with the first-rate mood music. Putting a pipe in the callow Jeffrey Hunter's mouth and making him a college professor amounts to a crippling miscalculation on someone's part. Hunter's simply not the type, nor does he have the gravitas to carry the plot forward. The end result is a hybrid of first-half brilliance and second-half mediocrity. Too bad. The ending is appropriate, however, as the monster truck bears down like the hand of pre-destination that Bud should have taken note of in that literature class. There is a point to Dory's unfortunate life, after all.

Set against the backdrop of the shiny 1950s, "A Kiss Before Dying" is a taunt thriller that can arguably be voted the predecessor of many modern thrillers.

When the film starts, it looks like a glamorous, teenybopper flick. The opening song compliments this heavily, as does the numerous logos and neon colours used in the opening credits. Thinking back on it now, I find it to be a very unusual, brilliant style of film-making that isn't seen very often. It tricks the viewer into something it is not. It is not a 1950s college comedy, but a relentless thriller with lots of unexpected twists and turns. I thought this movie was going to be tame, being a 1950s film and all, but I was pleasantly surprised in how raw the plot was in some places.

A young Robert Wagner portrays Bud Corliss, a darkly handsome college student with an obsessive taste for riches and fine dining. Bud is a trouble 25 year-old man who still lives at home with his aging widowed mother (Mary Astor). He feels unfulfilled in his life and a little uncertain about his future. Dorothy Kingship (Joanne Woodward), a girl with whom he is having a secret relationship with, may be the only glimmer of hope that will lift him up out of his bland, disappointing life. Dorothy's father is incredibly wealthy, and Bud knows this. However, Dorie falls pregnant and Bud is threatened with disinheritance and the inevitable prospect of working as a gas station attendant in order to pay the bills for his wife a baby. This is where the film really takes off and we get to see how dark, desperate and evil Bud really is.

Bud devises a plan: stage his girlfriends suicide. The plan seems simple enough and actually works in Bud's favour. He is free of Dorie and the prospect of disinheritance, and is now able to court Dorie's older sister, Ellen (Virginia Leith), who is totally oblivious of the fact that Bud is Dorie's old flame (and murderer). Enter rookie detective Gordon Grant (Jeffrey Hunter), an intelligent young man who questions the circumstances surrounding Dorie's death, as well as the integrity of Ellen's new lover, Bud. He just has to put the gruesome pieces together to solve the complex puzzle of deceit and murder.

I recommend this movie to fans of the thriller genre, as well as those who want to take a trip down memory lane. Great film with top performance by all. Kudos to Jeffrey Hunter.

An evil young man resorts to murder in his efforts to get his hands on an heiress's fortune. Unluckily for him, the heiress's sister and a smart young college lecturer smell a rat ...

This is a sumptuous mid-50's all-American movie, set in a world of sorority houses, open-top cars and drug stores. The boys have shiny, well-oiled hair and the girls wear big skirts. Courting couples meet on the bleachers at the football field between classes.

Shot in cinemascope, the film's aspect ratio means that television (where I saw it) does it a disservice: all too often, dialogues are conducted between two noses at either extreme of the screen. The colour is 'de luxe', so the credits tell us, and indeed the look of the film is rich and bright.

The film is a standard thriller, based on an Ira Levin novel. It is well put together, and has a nice, slinky jazz score, including the theme song (playing on the juke box during one of Bud's dates with Dory).

The opening is impressive. The camera pans around a student's bedroom, neatly setting the scene for us. We hear (but do not see) a girl crying. Gradually, as the characters are revealed, we get the message - Dory has found out that she is pregnant by Bud. She has a wealthy father, but is prepared to forego comfort if the man she loves will marry her. Bud is much more interested in the family money.

Even though Bud is despicable, we find ourselves wanting his scheme to succeed, so cleverly are we drawn into his plan. He surreptitiously studies poisons in the university library, then by a cunning ploy gains access to the chemistry lab. He composes a note in Spanish, ostensibly a piece he needs to translate for his class, then gets Dory to write out the English for him. She doesn't realise it, but she is writing her own 'suicide note'. Gerd Oswald's direction is strong on body language throughout the movie, and we cannot help but see the significance when Dory (played by Joanne Woodward) goes to kiss Bud, and he flinches.

A very young Robert Wagner portrays Bud as a slick, incredibly handsome villain with no feelings. He feigns affection for women, but is capable of none. When he cajoles his mother (Mary Astor) into choosing a tie for him, he craftily changes it for a preferred one when her back is turned.

The director is adept at conveying information without words. When Bud looks at the municipal building and marvels at its height, we know straight away what he is planning. When he is on the roof, the tension is sustained commendably.

Victoria Leith plays Ellen, Dory's sister. In another fine 'body language' moment, we see her subtly shrugging off her father's attempt to comfort her. We gather from this that Ellen blames him for what happened to Dory.

The plot contains some elements which stretch our credulity. If the ending is contrived and highly improbable, at least the incremental steps by which doubt invades Ellen's awareness are cleverly done.

Is it a coincidence that Jeff Hunter (Gordon Grant) and Robert Wagner look so alike? Or are they meant to represent two facets of intelligence - one cold and selfish, the other beneficent and altruistic? In the scene just before the engagement party, they are even dressed identically.

Verdict - A cleverly-executed murder flick.

According to Alicia Malone, the beautiful and intelligent host at tcm, "A Kiss Before Dying" is considered by Joanne Woodward to be not only her worst picture but the worst picture ever made by Hollywood. Oh c'mon, Joanne, considering some of the turkeys that I have seen with you and your late husband, Paul Newman, you can't possibly be serious. Don't get me wrong. Everyone is entitled to a living, and it's nice work if you can get it. At any rate, considering that Dore is supposed to be a bit of a whining nebbish, Joanne plays the part quite well.

I couldn't help from comparing this story, originating from Ira Levin's novel, to that of Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" which was adapted to the silver screen as "A Place in the Sun". While Levin's and Dreiser's stories both center on the very determined ambitions of two young men from very modest, if not impoverished, backgrounds, the big difference is that George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) in "Place in the Sun" does not deliberately kill the woman he impregnates. He only WANTS to kill her in the worst way and then does nothing to help her when she, herself, manages to overturn their rowboat on Loon Lake. This significantly distinguishes Eastman from Bud Corliss (Robert Wagner), who, to me, is far less sympathetic and far more depraved than George. The scenes at the closed marriage license offices in both films are also very similar.

The entire cast is excellent, and I would argue that this is among Mr. Wagner's best roles as an unlikely psychopathic murderer. Noteworthy is his brief scene with Mary Astor when he scolds her, his mother, for her wardrobe choice moments before he introduces her to his wealthy girlfriend's family. This one scene defines his character and gives us an important glimpse of at least some of the circumstances behind his motivation. Are the short haircuts of both Mom and Dore a mere coincidence, or is there much more lurking behind that similarity? Mary Astor, an outstanding actor, has always contributed greatly to all of the movies in which I have seen her, including "Act of Violence", "Dodsworth", and "The Maltese Falcon", only a few that immediately come to mind. George Macready, including his distinctively resonant voice, is another seasoned professional whose appearance is a very welcome bonus here. I thought that Virginia Lieth acts very decently, and she looks beautiful, so I don't know why I have never seen her in any other film.

The technicolor photography of cinematographer Lucien Ballard on location in and around Tucson, Arizona, including the campus of the University of Arizona, is exceptional. There is a noticeable crispness to it as it captures the unique architecture and natural surroundings of 1956 Tucson, days that only survive as they are archived by films such as this. Note the copper colored Thunderbird that Dore Kingship drives as well as the corded telephone and the swimming pool ladders of the same color. Someone had a barrel of fun making this picture.

As is the case with any film, there are some peculiar instances, including the reluctance of Dwight Powell at least to attempt to fight for his life. And where is the truck driver at the end? I expected him to appear immediately at the scene instead of hiding in his cab until the police arrive. And does Bud actually push Ellen out of the path of danger, as I believe he does? Also, if Bud's service during the Korean War is a factor behind his behavior, this should have been developed more as it should have but wasn't in the case of George Loomis (Joseph Cotton) in "Niagara", another favorite of mine from the same era.

If you're looking for an adaptation of the Ira Levin book--this isn't it. Also the book would be impossible to film. That aside this is OK murder mystery-thriller. I was lucky enough to see it letter-boxed on TCM--it looks great! However a film dealing with a psycho and murders he commits does NOT need a theme song! Acting is OK--not good, not bad, just OK. The cast is attractive, the film is beautiful to look at and it's an interesting diversion for 1 1/2 hours. So, an OK thriller--nothing really inventive or different about it. At all costs, AVOID the terrible 1991 remake! That one is a TOTAL waste of time!