You won't be disappointed!

Absolutely Fantastic

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Love film-noir and classic film, was really intrigued by the story (one of my favourite kinds of stories) and wanted to see how Richard Widmark's (an actor who specialised in playing villains and nasty characters) widely lauded film debut would fare. Will admit though to not being a big fan of Victor Mature, while not belonging in the deride camp that he tends to fall into.'Kiss of Death' turned out to be a film that lived up to high expectations quite splendidly. Have seen some wastes of potential recently so seeing a film that doesn't in any way was a relief. Perhaps not quite exceeding them, but can totally see the appeal. Everything that 'Kiss of Death' has been especially noted for was obvious from start to finish and it is a good representation of why the genre and this kind of story appeals to me. The romantic relationship did feel rushed for my liking. Also thought that the middle act dragged occasionally.However, 'Kiss of Death' is rich in atmosphere, love the grit of the cinematography, the crispness of the editing and the authenticity of the locations. The music is used sparingly but fits well when used. Henry Hathaway directs in a way that always makes the film involving and suspenseful, not dumbing down anything and making the considered shocking content have full impact.The script is taut and intelligent, as well as free of fat. The story never stops being suspenseful and what could have been an ordinary story turns into a work that is mature, tense and suspenseful, sometimes tragic, with the wheelchair/stairs scene that unsurprisingly shocked audiences at the time still one of the most shocking and iconic acts of evil on film.Victor Mature's sympathetic performance is one of his best by a considerable degree, while Coleen Gray and Brian Donlevy (cast against type) are strong support. 'Kiss of Death' belongs though to Richard Widmark, his unforgettably frightening performance is not only one of the best film debuts ever but also one of the most evil incarnate psychopathic characters on film.Overall, very good and worth seeing especially for Widmark. 8/10 Bethany Cox

6/1/18. This is a classic film noir in which atmosphere and snarky looks from Widmark along with anxiety eyes from Mature go a long way. While over 70 years old, it's worth watching just for that iconic scene in which a woman in the wheelhair gets thrown down the stairs. Widmark won the Golden Globe for this and earned an Oscar nom. And, Mature gets to act with his clothes on, which is something for him, given the biblical epics he made at that time with major beefcake scenes.

Sometimes you have to reflect a bit on the world of the film. Most of the time you just know and the encounter is all brute force.This is a solid crime drama, one of the most bleak (forget the wistful ending, you just know it was meddled with for the Code). A straight- up crook has to turn stoolie to be re-united with his two daughters, in doing so gets a new family, a new lease of life, but the plot backfires late in the night and a psychotic mobster will be looking for him and his daughters.Richard Widmark in his screen debut is just delicious to watch, a seething mass of barely contained violence and twitching nerves. He was so good he spawned real-life imitators in the mob.But this also goes for a film noir vibe, at least by token of the period it was made. It gets shadows right and has that gritty sense of place - actual New York streets - but is a bit off on certain characteristics I deem as quite defining of a good noir.The engine per the noir model, is that our man wanted to go straight but the world refused him, refused him because he had a record, all this is narrated to us on the way to a job that goes wrong, and he had a record it is mused because of a certain childhood scene with his no-good father. So the tracks were already laid-out for him long ago and he's merely being pushed along by learned instinct - you may note this as fate.Ideally in a film noir, dark impulse - usually personified in the femme fatale - is so overwhelming, so clouds perception, that reality itself begins to feel like it's being rewritten into a kind of nightmare. Incidental to this are the dreamlike perturbations in the world of the film, the frequently-met trope of a story being invented, a fiction in place of the real thing, and the illusion of fate, all of them key noir elements.The woman here is pure as the driven snow, perhaps this small detail exemplifies all the difference. The impulse is to do the right thing, our man serving justice.But we still have the solid crime drama and two memorable performers in the leads.

No need to recap the plot. At first I thought those lovey-dovey scenes with Mature and Gray were just Hollywood working in a woman's angle in a man's picture. But, no, they're necessary for building the tension, so thick by movie's end, you can cut it with the proverbial knife. After all, what could be sweeter than the two little daughters and Gray, on one hand, and the pathologically sadistic Widmark, on the other. As a result, we understand why Mature risks life and limb to get the madman before he gets the little family.Also, the tension really works because we know Widmark's nutcase would slice-and-dice Santa, given half a chance. Just the thought of pain sends him into maniacally drooling giggles. Watch his girlfriend freeze up in fear when he even hints at anger. His world is divided into two, either Big Men or Squirts, and we know what happens to the latter. In fact, Udo's one of the most memorable of all Hollywood psychos and a really shuddery movie debut for otherwise nice guy, Widmark.It's also a good tight screenplay from Hecht-Lederer, the scenes building effectively on one another and the location filming. Note also, how they manage to sneak in the brief bordello ("perfume") scene at a time when such was taboo. Mature too, is surprisingly effective as the reformed crook, his scenes with the little girls conveying genuine emotion. And was there ever a slipperier mob lawyer than the great Taylor Holmes, one of those unsung personalities who always added color to whatever they were in. I guess my only gripe is the ending. Okay, I'll give the screenplay the implausible trap that Nick sets since it's so nerve-wracking. But five shots into Nick at point blank range, only to be hauled away to recovery. Come on! Five is just too many to survive. My guess is the reassuring voice-over from wife Nettie (Gray) was at the insistence of the censors. Nonetheless, the movie furnishes one of the best crime dramas of the decade and grist for a thousand celebrity impersonations.