A Kiss Before Dying
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Movie Reviews of A Kiss Before Dying
Movie Review: Problem Solved...
Summary: 5 Stars
Bud Corliss (played by an incredibly thin / impossibly young Robert Wagner) is a social-climbing cad. He's also a homicidal psychopath. This is unfortunate for his girlfriend, Dorothy (Joanne Woodward), who happens to be pregnant w/ Corliss' baby! Good ol' Bud realizes that any offspring would cramp his free-wheeling style, so he decides to poison Dorothy. Failing at this, he finds another way to do away w/ his problem in short order. This leads to even more plotting and murder. Wagner is perfectly odious in his slippery, slimy role. By the time Bud gets his just desserts, it's definitely a relief! A KISS BEFORE DYING needs to be re-discovered by suspense / thriller fans...Movie Review: Bollywood Movie "Baazigar" is a remake of this movie
Summary: 5 Stars
The India based Bollywood Movie "Baazigar" is a remake of this movie...Movie Review: Each kiss a prelude to....DEATH!
Summary: 4 Stars
I always thought Robert Wagner deserved a better film career than he got, as he's an excellent actor and did a number of movies, including All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960), and The Longest Day (1962), before transitioning to television in the late 60's working on shows like It Takes A Thief and his signature role as Jonathan Hart of the Hart to Hart series. Remember, back in the day it was looked as a major step down to go from films to television, a similar, contemporary comparison being that of working in theatrical releases and then finding yourself in direct to video market hell (Lou Diamond Phillips) or voice-overs for video games (Ray Liotta). Work is work, I suppose, and A Kiss Before Dying (1956) is certainly one of Wagner's finer film roles, in my opinion.
Based on a novel by Ira Levin (Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives), A Kiss Before Dying was directed by Gerd Oswald, one of the more prominent directors in the early days of television, working on such shows as Rawhide, Bonanza, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, and Star Trek, to name a few. The film stars, as I mentioned before, a very young Robert Wagner, Joanne Woodward, her next being The Three Faces of Eve (1957), Mary Astor (The Maltese Falcon), Jeffrey Hunter (The Searchers), George Macready (The Big Clock), and Virginia Leith, who saw her career bottom out six years later in the seminal sci-fi schlocker The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962). Also appearing is Robert Quarry, who would later achieve a cult-like following for his starring role in Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) and its' follow up, The Return of Count Yorga (1971).
The film opens on a young couple in a small room, the woman weeping softly on the bed, and the man looking as if to console her. The woman's name is Dorothy Kingship (Woodward), and the man is Bud Corliss (Wagner). As the scene presented itself, I took a wild stab in my mind as to what was going on, and I was right...the girl has learned she's pregnant, and now she's broken the news to her boyfriend. Bud seems to offer his reassurances that he'll do right by her, and she accepts them, but to the viewer his words (and actions) seemed to be tinged by a sinister quality, one someone who is blinded by love may not notice. We later find out Dorothy comes from money, and her father (Macready), a stern man, would look poorly on her condition, cutting off any financial support. We later learn Bud's not so much in love with Dorothy, but the wealth her family could provide, and now that the milk from his potential cash cow has soured, due to Dorothy's condition, he must find a way to extricate himself from this situation (can you say murder?), and does so, with a great deal of meticulous, planning. Soon Dorothy's sister, Ellen, who's not convinced the evidence around her sister's death is as clear cut as the police would believe (they thought it suicide), looks into the matter herself, uncovering the well hidden tracks of a cold, ruthless killer, one who's aware of her every move, and won't let anything stand between him and what he believes is rightfully his...
I really enjoyed this film...the contrast between Robert Wagner's boyish, all-American good looks and his characters' cold, relentless malevolent drive in achieving his goals was really creepy. He was smart, charming, always seemed to know the right thing to say, and incredibly focused on the details, wary of leaving anything that might lead back to himself. His willingness to do whatever he has to in maintaining his deception is beyond what many could even begin to fathom, even managing to keep his own mother in the dark (which is no easy task, for any of you out there with a mother should be able to attest). Rarely have I seen such an ugly, rotten-to-the-core being hidden by such a handsome and absorbing façade, except maybe in the Omen films (especially the last one with Sam Neill). Everyone else did reasonably well, although I felt casting Macready as the father seemed a bit too obvious, and Hunter's character, as the tutor/junior police investigator, seemed more of a plot contrivance rather than a character. Oswald does a wonderful job directing, and while the story is slow moving at first, it worked well to allow us to really study Wagner's character, the depths of his roguish villainy, and also to set up Woodward's character for a spectacularly shocking demise (don't watch the trailer prior to watching the film, as it will spoil this). Ahhh, but even the most meticulous of plans can come unraveled, especially those based on deception, and soon Bud finds certain loose threads may be his undoing. The ending was theatrically sensational, although I've read that some felt it was a little too over-the-top, ill-befitting the subtle nature of the story, but I thought it was aptly appropriate given the diabolical nature of Wagner's character. One thing that kind of puzzled me is based on Wagner's character's nature for meticulousness, I thought it strange that he should flub his initial, carefully crafted efforts by getting Dorothy pregnant. I know sex ed wasn't focused on as much in the 50's as it may be now, but seeing as how Bud's cousin worked in a pharmacy, I would have thought obtaining prophylactics wouldn't have been that big of a deal...oh well...
The widescreen picture on this DVD looks very good, although there was a strange event during a few of the outside shots resulting in a weird, yet brief `shimmer' effect (you'll know it when you see it). I thought the audio decent, but a little too soft for my tastes, as I had to turn up the volume. The only special feature available is an annoying, talky trailer (avoid before watching the film).
Cookieman108
Movie Review: Prince Valiant he's not
Summary: 4 Stars
An early film for Wagner, Woodward's first credited role (I believe), vivid Technicolor. Handsome cad, weepy girlfriend, creepiness grows toward an inevitable end. Hollywood made sure the handsome cad (Wagner)manages at the last possible moment to show some normal feelings, which is sure to be a departure from the Ira Levin novel that spawned this film, but that's an irrelevancy in my opinion. Makes me want to read the book and find out just what it was that Bud knew about his mother (Mary Astor) that gave him such control over her. The hints in the film are delicious. Interesting to hear Woodward's southern accent emerging every once in a while and to note that Virginia Leith, playing her sister, has a very similar-sounding voice in terms of pitch and accent. Viewing this film makes it very easy to agree with Wagner that he would have been a better choice than Cassavetes for "Rosemary's Baby", but he was typecast as the handsome hero and that was that. But the man is drop-dead handsome no matter what his age and in this film he's just gorgeous! Great eye-candy and not bad acting, either. As is frequently the case, the original is lots better than the remake.Movie Review: Top Murder Mystery
Summary: 4 Stars
A Kiss Before Dying
Robert Wagner is mean and nasty when, upon finding out that his college sweetheart, Joanne Woodward, was pregnant and wanted to get married, kills her by throwing her off a roof and hides the crime. The crime is hidden as a suicide. If that were not bad enough, he then pursues and woos the victim's sister because he wants to get married and get into the family business and fortune. It's a cat and mouse game throughout the movie, as Wagner gets engaged to the victim's sister, until an investigator finds out the Wagner knew her sister at college beofre she died.
The movie comes to a suspenseful climax. I would recommend this DVD as a keepsake.