A Kiss Before Dying

Unfortunately, one of the most abused terms on IMDb has become "noir." If a film exhibits any type of sinister plot involving a male and female, and it is pre-1960, it is immediately thought to fall into that very DISTINCT genre. Killing girlfriends/wives was a plot device long before "noir" came along. This melodrama also bears little resemblance to Hitchcock. All leads perform well, although I am not ready to "buy into" Wagner's performance as easily as others apparently have. Also, the behavior of some characters is completely unbelievable, including the second victim's unwillingness to take any action to prevent his own murder. A woman falls from a twelve-story building, in downtown, and nobody looks up to see Wagner, pausing for a ridiculous amount of time, in broad daylight? The police don't ask more detailed questions - accepting everything at face value? Amnesia appears to have set in the entire campus regarding the relationship between Wagner and Woodward? (True, every scene shows them alone, sort of, but COME ON!) Location filming is attractive, though, and the color is at its mid-century best. Yes, the film is certainly worth watching, but it is not a "noir," and should not be continually addressed as such. Being an Ira Levin fan, I will now track down his original novel, and discover if it is more in tune with what I expect, when enjoying one of his creations. (And the opening credits theme music!! Good grief - it belongs with a glossy Douglas Sirk flick.)

source: A Kiss Before Dying

Gerd Oswalk made a "pretty" picture, but it certainly wasn't a "thriller", to me. So predictable ! If the story had been good, I'd have overlooked that. The "brilliant" comments before mine makes me wonder if we all saw the same movie. BUT, Robert Wagner ("Bud Corliss") DEFINITELY was not the "noir"-type actor, nor was Jeffrey Hunter ("Prof Grant") anything near the role he was assigned. Both of those guys were TOO pretty for their roles....guess that's why Hunter was wearing glasses most of the time. I thought Joanne Woodward ("Dory") was ridiculous and not nearly pretty enough; Virginia Leith ("Ellen") was lovely, but an actress?? Guess that's why we didn't see her again....... ....someone compared this film as a companion-piece to "The Talented Mr. Ripley" WHAT ?? I have no idea how this film ended, but I guess Wagner got caught, huh? The scene in the "supply"-room was a hoot - and those rubber-gloves he ALWAYS had with him. AND, he even typed "Dory's" suicide-note on his own typewriter !! That was it for me. WOULD THAT STRONG, YOUNG MAN JUST SIT AT HIS DESK WAITING FOR WAGNER TO PULL THE TRIGGER ??? ...I left this film half-way....it looked beautiful, with all the stylish clothes the main character-guys wore (everyone else wore shirts) and the lovely autos, etc... ANYONE who compares this film to "Ripley" should be doomed to watch "Kiss" a jillion times. Double Boo !!

I bought this a while back on a cheap DVD and was more than pleasantly surprised ! An excellent gripping suspense with a nice soundtrack.Worthy of one of Hitchcock's films. The "lead-up" to the murder was very well done - you just cannot believe he's going to push her off the roof until the second it actually happens. The film is made all the more powerful by the fact that Robert Wagner has such an angelic face, that it's all the more horrifying to see him plan and perpetrate his crime. It's also nice to see a film made on beautiful sets, with the university atmosphere and taking place in broad daylight ( I dislike films which are mostly set in the dark and at night - it's as though they're trying to hide something - and after all, night is the time when most of us are supposed to be sleeping ). Since buying the DVD, I have watched the film three times and each viewing makes me like it more. If I had to complain about something, I would only say that I would have liked the end to be a little more dramatic - the first half of the film, where the murder is being planned - is actually better than the second half - where the murder is actually elucidated. The way it is elucidated is not as convincingly done as the way it was planned ! Perhaps Hitchcock would have done a better job on that bit, I don't't know. Anyway a film definitely worth viewing - shivers guaranteed !

They should have made the director watch some Hitchcocks before making this poor attempt at a thriller. He obviously hadn't the shadow of a clue how to make this exciting or create the right tension. The garish color photography and snazzy jazz score don't help either. " A kiss before dying, bababie bababoo". Really gets you in the right mood. The against-type casting of Robert Wagner as the socially ambitious killer was an interesting move, but doesn't pay off because of his total lack of acting skills. The moral ambiguity this role needs to work is completely absent in his performance. Not that the other actors are much better, in fact they're worse. My personal Razzie goes to the ludicrously stilted father figure, although the bookish college don complete with pipe and glasses is hot on his heels. Only Joanne Woodward's character earns some sympathy, but maybe that's because you know she's gonna get bumped off. This movie limps from one ludicrous scene to the next. For fans of cheesy movies i especially recommend the scene in which the killer forces another guy to sit down and have his head blown off, only to have the victim oblige without so much as an attempt at attacking his murderer. Maybe they actually were more polite in the Fifties. The final scene is also unforgettably corny and.... oh well, i've wasted enough time in both watching and complaining about this overcooked turkey. Not bad enough to be campy, but worse: just plain bad.

I thought this was a pretty phony looking film. The book was so much better; the big surprise was a kick in the book and almost expected in the film. Maybe I'm just too high on the movie being as great as the book, but I just didn't think this picture was too well done.

The Levin bestseller about a cold-blooded social climber becomes an ineffective film. This was the first film that Oswald directed and his inexperience (or lack of talent) shows in the melodramatic presentation and poor acting. With this film Wagner tried to branch out into meatier roles, but his wooden performance clearly shows his limitations as an actor. His acting is so unnatural that one can almost see him thinking before delivering his lines. Leith is even worse as the heiress he pursues. Faring better is Woodward, in only her second film, managing to make her whiny character sympathetic. Hunter also does OK as a police detective. The score is loud and distracting.

Young woman attempts to solve the mysterious death of her sister, which was ruled a suicide. Unfortunately, this is no delicious, Nancy Drew-styled mystery, for the sleuthing is done almost entirely off-screen, and the details we're privy to (like the fact her sister was wearing something old-new-borrowed-& blue when she died) are skimmed over second-hand. The main focus is on Robert Wagner's sociopath, but we don't get much background information on him. Director Gerd Oswald sets up a long sequence in a college chemistry supply lab which goes no place, skirting major plot-issues and personality points in the meantime. The script, based upon Ira Levin's far-fetched novel, eliminates an entire third sister and rushes along Levin's carefully-mounted scenario until it becomes nothing more than a summary of the book. The small town college landscape is vividly captured however, and Lucien Ballard's cinematography is rich (despite a slim budget). Later remade with Matt Dillon and Sean Young--whom Virginia Leith (here playing Ellen) eerily resembles! ** from ****

Ira Levin, an accomplished mystery writer, wrote the book in which this picture was based. The adaptation, by Lawrence Roman, works as a movie. Gerd Oswald, whose second movie this was, shows he wasn't up to the task of directing it. Perhaps with another director, a more satisfying film could have emerged. If you haven't seen the movie, please stop reading here. The film presents us a situation that was a classic dilemma for the times in which it was filmed: an unexpected pregnancy. It was a social issue that had more impact in those days than presently. This is a story of a young, naive coed that finds out to her horror, she is in the family way. The handsome boy that is responsible for it, goes into a state of panic, as he doesn't want any part of this situation. The young woman is killed in front of our eyes, so there is no suspense in the fact, since we know who did it. The crime is exacerbated because the sister of the dead girl smells a rat in the way her sister, supposedly committed suicide. She starts digging into the past. The complicating factor is that Ellen, the kind sister has fallen for a hunk that hides from her the key for solving the crime. The casting of the film was unusual in that Robert Wagner is cast as the evil Bud Corliss. Mr. Wagner with his good looks presents a facade of being what he is not. This duplicity makes us hate him. Virginia Leith, on the other hand, as the good sister, Ellen, is totally miscast. Perhaps another actress and a better direction would have made her more appealing. Joanne Woodward, as the doomed girl, makes a believable Dory. Jeffrey Hunter, as the man who discovers the mystery, makes a good impression.

A scheming college guy, played by a youthful Robert Wagner, tries to marry into wealth. Complications result in murder. Because of the murder angle, and because the plot centers on Wagner's sly and cunning character, the film reminds me a little of "Dial M For Murder". But, to its credit, "A Kiss Before Dying" has a darker, more brooding, noir-like quality, helped along by a 50's music score that is jazzy and slightly mournful. Wagner's acting, if not Oscar-worthy, is at least acceptable. But Jeffrey Hunter is miscast, and therefore not convincing, as the pipe-smoking professor/detective. And Joanne Woodward gives a clinging, and altogether too whiny, performance, as the damsel in distress. A couple of interesting, if somewhat implausible, plot twists add impact to the screenplay. The film's conclusion, however, is predictable and just a tad melodramatic. Overall, "A Kiss Before Dying" comes across as a stylish, very 1950ish, wanna-be classic. It doesn't quite succeed, but is nonetheless worth watching at least once, especially for viewers who like dark, brooding, twist-laden thrillers.