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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0024543183532
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Region Code: 1
Release Date: December 06, 2005
Running Time: 99 minutes
Sales Rank: 16745
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: August 27, 1947
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Editorial Review:
Description:
Henry Hathaway's directorial skills brought a heightened sense of realism to crime dramas in this classic 1947 original that marked Richard Widmark's Oscar -nominated debut. When a small time crook (Victor Mature) gets a twenty year sentence for robbery, he refuses to reveal his accomplices, even after a D.A. (Brian Donlevy) offers to help him. But he changes his mind once he learns that his wife has committed suicide and a psychopath (Widmark) has threatened his children.
Amazon.com:
Richard Widmark's bravura debut as snickering gangster Tommy Udo, and particularly his infamous encounter with an old woman in a wheelchair, enjoys such pop cachet that the movie itself has been somewhat underrated. More's the pity. Henry Hathaway's third entry in 20th Century–Fox's series of post–WWII thrillers is just about the best of the bunch. These films incorporated the semidocumentary techniques and wondrously persuasive on-location shooting Hollywood learned from Italian neorealism and the wartime filming of some of its own best directors. Kiss of Death is more fictional than documentary in thrust, with a solid script by ace screenwriters Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer. But that only makes its imaginative, atmospheric use of real places and spaces--e.g., a superb opening robbery sequence in a New York skyscraper--the more remarkable.
Victor Mature belies his rep as one of the Hollywood star system's bad jokes with his intense performance as Nick Bianco, a career criminal driven to turn squealer. Nick's motivation is family values: although he had gone to Sing Sing (yes, they filmed there, too) as a stand-up guy, 'the boys' failed to take care of his wife and daughters as promised, with devastating results. Despite the best efforts of an assistant D.A. (Brian Donlevy), Nick is forced to lay everything on the line to rescue his family's future. The movie abounds in evocative texture, thanks to the no-frills excellence of Norbert Brodine's camerawork and an exemplary supporting cast including Millard Mitchell (as a sardonic police detective), Karl Malden (another D.A.), and Taylor Holmes (a flannel-mouthed Mob shyster). Kiss of Death was remade twice, as a Western titled The Fiend That Walked the West and as a straight thriller again in the '90s. --Richard T. Jameson
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
****1/2 1947. Directed by Henry Hathaway. Richard Widmark, in his first role, earned a Golden Globe (Most promising newcomer) and an Academy award nomination, so does Eleazar Lipsky for the screenplay. Victor Mature accepts to become a snitch in order to be with his children. KISS OF DEATH is a classic film noir shot on location as often in movies produced by 20th Century Fox at that time. Classic scenes like the murder of Rizzo's mother by Widmark, the first hold-up or Richard Widmark's laugh already ... Read More
Rating: -
Funny, being born during WWII and growing up in the late 40s-early 50s, I thought movies such as this were just movies. I came of age in the midst of these black and white, stark reality jobs, that we now term 'noir'.
Yes, I'm aware the term was one applied by the French to describe some American movies after WWII, but believe me, the average viewer didn't call them 'noir' back then. They were just movies, and we expected to see them whenever we went to see a 'detective' show. ... Read More
Rating: -
The movie "The Kiss Of Death starring Victor Mature and Brian Donlevy and introducing Richard Widmark is a fine film of the noire genre. Richard Widmark one acclaim as Johnny Udo, psychopathic killer with a sinister laugh. I am a big Victor Mature fan. He does a great job as an ex-con who is asked by DA who is played by Brian Donlevy to try and pretend to be friends with Johnny Udo while trying to get the good on him. At first he doesn't want to do it but then he sees what kind of a man Johnny Udo is and ... Read More
Rating:  -
Shot on location in New York, which few films could claim back in 1947, Henry Hathaway's Kiss of Death is a sensationally thrilling film noir that features one of the most memorable movie villains. A typical hard-boiled gangster film, Kiss of Death sports the essential elements of classic noir, including a confused anti-hero, devious villains, gunplay and action, incompetent cops and sets that cast shadows on everything that steps past the screen.
Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) is a common mob criminal ... Read More
Rating: -
This film is terrific, and the video transfer is great. But I have a question for anyone who can answer. I have a distinct recollection from many many years ago when I last saw this film, that when Richard Widmark pushes Mildred Dunnock down the stairs in a wheelchair, after she crashes, we see Widmark standing at the top of the stairs, giving that giggle that made this scene one of the most famous scenes in cinematic history. Yet on this DVD, after he pushes her down, we see her crash, and then the screen goes ... Read More
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