treywillwest A striking cross between gritty Noir and colorful-if-sad '50s family melodrama, this is a unique and, I think, rather complex Hollywood movie. The sociopathic anti-hero (protagonist-villain?) seems to be a wholesome stud-muffin who wants the American dream: financial independence, indeed wealth. A dark variation on the Rebel Without a Cause, he is fatherless and the Oedipal tension with his mother is not subtle. Indeed, the first of his girlfriends that we meet has a striking similarity to Mom. His chosen path to affluence is to marry into money, and each time the rich chicks he dates do something that alienates their wealthy families, like getting pregnant out of wedlock, he kills them in retaliation. His murders are not a way to procure wealth but a way to free himself from romantic obligations that will not bring wealth. Thus, his criminal actions can be seen as a result of social prohibitions on divorce and abortion, at least as much as of misogyny. The killer is then simultaneously a patriarchal abuser and a rebel against patriarchal morality. The killer is brought down by a group of conspirators working with one of the victim's viciously patriarchal, capitalist father. He dies in a subterranean excavation in the dessert and his crimes, and the embarrassment to a "proper family" that would come with their revelation, are buried with him. The ending is "happy" exactly because all the horror of American society remains hidden behind the face of patriarchal "normalcy."

mtckoch A Kiss Before Dying, what can I say? Even the title is creepy and suggestive. In this classic 1956 thriller, we learn just how far a greedy, smooth-talking pretty-boy will go to get what he wants. When Bud Corliss, Korean War veteran and college man, learns his lover, Dorie Kingship is expected a child out of wedlock by him, a fatal series of schemes, lies, and murders is set in motion. Why? Because Bud is simply charming sweet, but all-too trusting Dorie in order to get ahead in her father's lucrative copper business by marrying her. Since this happens in the mid-fifties, her pregnancy means the end to his dreams of wealth and prestige. Dorie's cold, strict father would throw them both on their ears. So in order to save his reputation and future, Bud decides to kill Dorie and make it seem like suicide based on shame and guilt over the pregnancy. His plan is clever, simple, and goes perfectly, or so he thinks. He shoves Dorie off the roof of a high building and calmly walks away. However, her sister Ellen has suspicions, and plays amateur detective, indirectly prompting Bud to fake another suicide to silence a witness. Tension builds to a breaking point you'll be shocked by. Is it dated? Yes. Corny? At times. Melodramatic? You had better believe it. But is it worth watching? Extremely. Robert Wagner gives a chilling portrayal of a truly evil young man, and Virginia Leith shines as the relentless bringer of justice for her tragic sister. This is a "Kiss" that will take your breath away.

movie reviews Robert Wagner in his youthful handsomeness days plays an evil sociopath bent on marrying money, he kills one sister Dorothy because she would be disowned by her puritanical father for getting pregnant and goes after the other Ellen. His motive is to get his hands on their father's huge copper mine in Arizona.It was obvious to me that Ellen's boyfriend would be Wagner the minute she mentioned she had a boyfriend....also it was obvious Wagner would be pushed off into the mine at the end. However there are plenty of other twists and surprises that I didn't see coming.A couple odd items no one mentioned...Dorothy's 1957 Thunderbird convertible is copper colored as are the phones and ticker tape machine in the family mansion. There are visual "cues" everywhere commenting on what just happened or what is going to happen. After Dorothy falls down the bleachers (given a helpful push by Wagner) you see a street sign saying SPEED KILLS. I laughed at the reviewer who said this tumble down the bleachers must have been a first for the film industry where a pregnant woman didn't have a miscarriage.The movie holds your interest as it is fast paced with lots of red herrings being fired at you all the time--most fizzle quickly like Wagner about to leave his notebook in the arsenic store room--but not all.Much more knowledgeable reviews exist for this period piece. It was a B grade movie (boiler plate for double features) but a good one.

Felix-28 I read Ira Levin's book when I was young, sometime in the 1960s, and loved it. It's very chilling, and I think as good as Rosemary's Baby. Better than the Stepford Wives and Boys from Brazil.This film is a quite bizarre mixture of the chilling and the comical. Someone above has mentioned the scene where Bud and Dorie are having an intense conversation when suddenly a middle-aged woman in a completely see-through blouse with a great big bra underneath walks between them and halts the conversation; she has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot, and when it happened I literally burst out laughing at the incongruousness of it. I also laughed at Jeffrey Hunter's ridiculous attempts to manipulate heavy Clark Kent spectacles and an unlit pipe in a vain attempt to appear mature. The good points about the film are the plot, which is gripping even though it's been shortened markedly from the book, and some of the acting, particularly Robert Wagner and Joanne Woodward -- and I also enjoyed George Macready as the father of Dorie and Ellen. The fact is that I was consistently interested or amused or gripped by something or other for the whole of the film. You can't really ask for much more from a film.