A KISS BEFORE DYING: Blu-ray (UA/Crown Productions 1956) Kino Lorber
Based on Ira
Levin's 1953 novel, Gerd Oswald's A Kiss
Before Dying (1956) casts one of the 1950's most congenial heartthrobs,
Robert Wagner, as a psychotic murderer; his good looks sheathing more than
killer charm. Levin's novel won the Edgar Allen Poe Writer's Award and it is to
Oswald's credit the movie retains a goodly amount of its’ darkly sinister
atmosphere - even if the book's more salacious aspects are implied rather than
revealed in this lush Cinemascope production. The screenplay by Lawrence Roman
jettisons the first act of Levin's novel - the back story or 'making of' a
psychopath – to jump right into the present day. In hindsight, the genius of the
picture lay in the decision to cast Wagner; then, considered the slick and
stylish male pin-up of his era. The irony of Wagner’s career is that it is
mostly predicated on his astonishing good looks and a bravura ego. While other
male beauties of any vintage have fallen by the waste side with the passage of
time, in proportion to the erosion of their undeniable physical assets, Wagner
has continued to find gainful employment in both the movies and on TV long into
his emeritus years; perhaps, something about that toothy, devil-may-care
swagger perfected as the rather impudent young buck, forgiven just about
anything because he fears nothing in front of a camera. Hollywood then, as now,
is tenuously balanced on an illusion of smoke and mirrors. Sex appeal goes a
long way – too far, perhaps - but only so far in the end. Eye-candy is simply
that – and not altogether satisfying without the personality and/or chutzpah to
make it stick.
In A Kiss Before Dying, Wagner becomes the
unsuspecting root of all evil. At least in hindsight, he makes evil so
innocuous – if sinfully handsome – his performance seems to foreshadow
Hitchcock’s decision to supplant author, Robert Bloch’s original notion of the
pudgy middle-aged serial killer with all-American Tony Perkins for the big
screen adaptation of his novel, Psycho
(1960). A Kiss Before Dying is subversively elegant – beginning with
Wagner’s self-assured cock of the walk. The film is patently a product of the
fresh-faced California lifestyle, circa mid-1950’s; Hollywood’s idealized
post-war America, observed as a panacea of fin-tailed cars, plush shag carpets
and weekend respites to fashionable country club retreats, populated by
ivy-leagued/poodle-skirt debutantes and crew cut, cardigan sweater/varsity
letter-wearing young men, deprived of their precious male initiative, and thus,
never even thinking to take advantage of a young girl’s easy virtue. Emerging
from the shadows, like a jungle cat ready to pounce into all this undisturbed
modernity and classicism, is Bud Corliss – not of their ilk, though fitfully
eager to acquire his toehold into this parallel universe of privilege and
affluence.
Alas, Bud has
not played his cards right. In short order, we will come to realize he has
absolutely no intension of playing by their rules either. He might have found
his ‘niche’ with Dorothy 'Dorie' Kingship (Joanne Woodward) – an exceptionally
naïve good girl from a good home who has made at least two
glaring blunders that will ultimately cost her everything. Overly zealous, jealous
and sexed to the gills, Bud has broken the cardinal rule of admission into this
cultured sect; namely, having knocked-up the virgin-esque daughter of a wealthy
industrialist, certain to squash both Bud and his chances for future
advancement like the proverbial bug once the truth comes out. Overnight, Bud’s
options in life have been whittled down to two…okay, one. He could marry Dorie on the sly, incurring
her parents’ wrath temporarily though nevertheless making ‘an honest woman’ of her before anyone realizes the deed is already
done. But even Bud can see this would likely have its immediate and stifling
repercussions and lingering fallout on his long-term social mobility; his
Teflon-coated reputation no longer intact. So, on to option two – murder. It
all sounds like a Dateline episode, doesn’t it? But for the button-down
fifties, the idea any man – but particularly one as smolderingly sexy as Bud –
would kill his lover and their unborn child simply to avoid the altar and ‘get
ahead’ in life, was not only shocking but (choke!) progressive.
In lieu of the
whole Natalie Wood scandal that continues to swirl around Wagner to this day,
his performance as Bud Corliss has taken on a far more picaresque quality than
it probably possessed in 1956. For those living under a rock or unknowing of
any past history that predates their origin of birth, Wagner and Wood were one
of Hollywood’s fairytale couples of the mid-1950’s; incredibly talented and
impossibly sexy. Alas, like all good fairytales, this one had its dark side.
The couple would separate and later divorce in 1962, only to remarry a decade
later, after Wood’s second marriage failed; a reunion lasting until the night
of Nov. 28th, 1981 when Wood ‘disappeared’ from her husband’s moored
yacht; her body fished from the surf near Santa Catalina Island the next
morning. Although Wood’s death was ruled as accidental at the inquest, in 2009,
the former captain of the vessel openly admitted he had lied under oath. Wood’s
body was later exhumed and a second autopsy conducted; the cause of death
altered from ‘accidental’ to ‘undetermined’. Interesting now to think of life
imitating art or art foreshadowing life, as the case may be herein; Wagner’s
performance in A Kiss Before Dying
doing more to suggest he possesses a disturbingly roguish streak, capable of
anything. I suspect that is why they call it ‘acting’. And in the many years
that have since shrouded Wood’s demise and dogged Wagner’s reputation with
tabloid-esque fervor to intimate either he, or fellow passenger aboard the
yacht, Christopher Walken – were more insidiously involved in a cover-up – Wagner’s performance in this movie, at least,
continues to evolve on a more disquieting verisimilitude.
Bud Corliss is
a working class guy, doted on by his mother (Mary Astor). He can hear the
lonely whistle of the trains even if he cannot afford the fare to ride them. Enrolled
in college, Bud has been hot and heavy with Dorothy 'Dorie' Kingship (Joanne
Woodward), an impressionable young woman of wellborn pedigree. Dorie cannot see
past Bud’s adoring gaze. She might have first tried to analyze his petty
larceny by peering into them a little deeper. Why is Bud so secretive about
their affair? He will not even hold hands with Dorie in public. It doesn’t make
any sense, particularly as Dorie is one of two heirs to a copper mining
fortune. Regrettably, her father, Leo (George Macready) is something of a
tyrant. Actually, he just wants Dorie to straighten up and fly right. Getting
knocked up is not part of George’s future plans for his little angel – nor Bud’s
grand love ‘em, then leave ‘em seduction after he gets what he wants. Knowing Leo
will likely disinherit Dorie if he finds out about the illegitimate baby she is
carrying, Budd plots to get rid of the evidence. But Dorie wants this baby. So,
Bud decides to dispose of his girlfriend instead; first, by poisoning her with
pills stolen from the chemistry lab. Pitched to Dorie as vitamins to keep her
and their child healthy, Bud's plot goes awry when Dorie decides not to take
the drugs. Bud's next move is to devise a clever suicide. He gets Dorie to 'transcribe' her own suicide letter into
English from a Spanish text, then tells Dorie they are to be married by a
Justice of the Peace the next afternoon.
Deliberately
arriving during lunch hour, at which time the office is closed, Bud suggests to
Dorie they trot up a few flights to the roof and wait for the office to reopen
(shades of George Stevens’ 1951 masterpiece, A Place in the Sun). Bud tells Dorie she will never know how much
he loves her; then tosses her over the side of the building to her death. Post
haste, Bud sneaks from the building unseen and mails Dorie's 'suicide note' to
Leo. It all seems perfect. But murder never is, and as time passes neither
Professor Gordon Grant (Jeffrey Hunter) nor Dorie's devoted sister, Ellen
(Virginia Leith) believes her death was an accident. Leo urges Ellen to put the
nightmare behind them. She agrees, to satisfy daddy, but does exactly the opposite.
Learning from Gordon her sister was involved with someone on campus, Ellen
accidentally comes to suspect Dwight Powell (Richard Quarry); a tennis pro in
his senior year. In a dangerous game of cat and mouse, Ellen tricks Powell into
meeting her at a local watering hole, but quickly realizes she has made a
terrible mistake. Unhappy chance, Powell remembers Dorie's boyfriend quite well
and even believes he has a name and address he can give Ellen back at his dorm.
Powell takes
Ellen to his residence. As it is not co-ed, Ellen agrees to wait in the lobby
while Powell goes upstairs to search for the information. Unfortunately, Bud is
already waiting there to ambush Powell and shoot him dead. Making off with
Powell's phone book, Bud lays low for several months, gradually ingratiating
his way into Ellen's life. The two become involved and later engaged.
Meanwhile, Gordon connects the dots between Dorie and Bud and confronts Ellen
and Leo with the news Bud was Dorie's lover. Leo believes Gordon, but Ellen
defies them both and decides to take Bud on a tour of her father's copper mines
to clear the air. Despite her belief in Bud's innocence, Ellen's conscience
will not rest until she knows the truth for sure. She goads Bud into revealing
certain intimate aspects about her sister's life that only a lover would know.
On a narrow stretch of road overlooking the Kingship Mines, Bud confesses to
Ellen he is Dorie's cold-blooded killer. Now, he tries to murder Ellen too by
throwing her in front of an oncoming truck. In a twist of fate, this attempt
backfires. Ellen is hurled to the ground, the driver of the truck, swerving to
avoid her, runs over Bud instead. Leo rushes to his daughter’s side; the sadder
but wiser girl left to reconsider her naïveté as Bud’s battered remains are
taken away.
A Kiss Before Dying is more melodramatic than
suspenseful; though I suspect this to be part of its enduring charm. Levin's
book is far more gruesome than the film. In fact, in the novel, Bud murders
Ellen too, pursuing a third relationship with Marion, the youngest daughter of
the Kingship clan (a character entirely omitted from the film). In the novel's
climactic confrontation, Marion actually tosses Bud into a molten hot vat of
copper where he is boiled alive. Despite the sanitizing of this rather lurid
and pulpy material, director Gerd Oswald gets a lot of economy out of Lucien
Ballard's evocative noir-ish cinematography in DeLuxe Color, and, Lawrence
Roman's masterful condensing of the finer plot points that move the story along
at a breakneck pace in just a little over an hour and a half. Robert Wagner is
particularly engaged as the corrosive lover with murder in his heart. Again, it
is hard –and mildly painful - to watch Wagner’s performance and not be reminded
of the late Natalie Wood or the possibility the more artful ‘kismet’ ending of
the film has avenged a sin no amount of time, revised autopsies or more
probing investigations into ‘the truth’ can.
Wagner gives a
bone-chilling performance as Bud Corliss; a man with no scruples or personal
integrity. Joanne Woodward is convincing as the young innocent. We can skip
Virginia Leith’s rubber-bra padded version of Nancy Drew meets Bettie Page;
stock sexpot, possessing zero on-screen chemistry; and almost forgive Jeffrey
Hunter - relegated to the backdrop, with only a handful of lines to involve his
character in this story – for being more wooden than a stick of kindling. In
1991, someone at Universal Studios thought it prudent to remake A Kiss Before Dying; director, James
Dearden’s epic misfire yielding predictably disastrous results, co-starring charm-free
Matt Dillon and stiff-as-a-board, Sean Young – playing the sisters as twins. Like so many movies, it is the original that
counts. A Kiss Before Dying still
holds up; I suspect because of the ongoing and insidious infatuation we have
with the final hours of Natalie Wood’s life. Did Wagner kill his wife, using
the template as concocted for the almost perfect crime gleaned from this movie?
Hmmmm.
Kino Lorber,
the custodians of far too many substandard MGM/UA releases in hi-def, deliver
yet another underwhelming 1080p experience. A Kiss
Before Dying was independently produced by Crown, but distributed through
UA. Regrettably, in remastering this film for home video, MGM has
lopped off the UA logo and replaced it with their own. MGM’s
old DVD was fairly impressive, so A Kiss
Before Dying ought to have looked stellar on Blu-ray. But it’s MGM,
remember…and cribbing from the same elements used to master the DVD. And so, what
we have here is a master predating today’s technologies and achieved for one
format, up-rezed merely to accommodate another. Yes, things do tighten up, but
never to reveal outstanding levels of sharpness or clarity. Want more proof it’s
an old master? The brief examples of age-related damage evident on the old DVD
appear in exactly the same spots on this Blu-ray. Colors are vibrant, but again
– not of the eye-popping brilliance we are used to on Blu-ray. Contrast is okay,
but blacks look a tad anemic. Whites are generally pristine; flesh tones, natural.
The middle reel exhibits slight 'breathing' and the occasional soft flicker and
strobe; again, not terribly distracting but obvious and easily corrected using today’s technologies. Don’t expect refined grain, though occasionally the
image can look passably accurate and satisfying. We get a tad more information
revealed on all four sides of the anamorphic frame. Ho-hum – expected. The
audio is DTS but misses out on giving us the original 4-track Westrex stereo.
Why am I not surprised? The only extra is a well-worn theatrical trailer. Bottom
line: if you already own this one on DVD, keep it and save your cash for a
studio willing to put up some of theirs – along with more than a modicum of
effort – into doing better work and right by their back catalog of golden
oldies. Regrets.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
3.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
3
EXTRAS
0
Comments