Check Those Wheelchair Brakes

Wicked Widmark Served Double For Revival Booking

Kiss Of Death (1947) Shoves Sadism Down Stairs

Darryl Zanuck regretted the title he'd given this crime thriller after receipts that barely showed profit. He said Kiss Of Death sounded like a horror movie. First marquee or ad impression could indeed be a kiss of death if they misled patronage. Was KoD a turn-off? How many left this excellent docu-noir alone because they thought content was something else entirely? Again as with successful House On 92nd Street, Call Northside 777, and 13 Rue Madeleine, there was adherence to realism, both in setting and theme. Henry Hathaway took crew and principals to New York and shot at Sing Sing for prison portions. Getting authentic flavor mattered much to patronage lately done with the war, moviegoers having been made more worldly by conflict fought worldwide. The one-sheet promised something stark --- Victor Mature's anguished face against deep black background.

Vic Lightens Up Between Takes

A bigger noise was Richard Widmark in screen debut. His giggling killer upset complacency where screen heavies were concerned. I'm still surprised the Code allowed his pushing an old lady down stairs in a wheelchair. Certainly it was the scene everyone came away talking about. Widmark's character was so maniacal, in fact, as to give Fox headaches for follow-up. He could repeat Tommy Udo to point of saturation that would come quick. Time was needed to make a palatable leading man of him, that mission accomplished within a couple years and casting along conventional lines. Still, people remembered him as Udo, Widmark and that wheelchair as close-associated as Jim Cagney with his grapefruit. RW would even recall his first meeting with John Wayne getting off to a bad start because Wayne identified him so strongly with the killer part. Kiss Of Death comes from Fox's Film Noir Collection in a first-rate DVD transfer.