Killer's Kiss

1955

Stanley Kubrick's second feature, the earliest of his works still commercially available, is different than most of his later films in that it tells a relatively intimate, subtext-and-symbolism free melodrama in the span of a mere 1 hour and 7 minutes (nearly one-third the length of his final film Eyes Wide Shut !).

Killer's Kiss is essentially a hard-boiled noir "love triangle" between a professional boxer (Jamie Smith), his nightclub performer neighbor (Irene Kane), and her sleazy gangster pimp/would-be-lover (Frank Silvera). When the boxer intervenes in a dispute and later tries to flee Manhattan with the girl, the gangster pegs him for assassination. But bad timing and mistaken identity result in the murder of the boxer's manager instead, and after a thrilling flight through the gritty streets of downtown New York, the chase climaxes in an unnerving showdown in a warehouse of creepy mannequins. The boxer kills his rival, and he the girl escape the city to begin new lives together.

Background:

Long before the advent of young turks Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez, and the Blair Witch duo, 26-year old Stanley Kubrick wrote, edited, and directed Killer's Kiss himself on the streets of his native New York, shooting independently and often illegally around his own apartment in Greenwich Village. His debut feature, 1953's Fear And Desire, was a critical and box office failure, and for the young director, a personal one, too. However, Kubrick's career as a still photographer for Look, and his successful short film Day Of The Fight had won him acclaim, and he was able to convince friends and family to put up the money for a new film to try again. Raising most of the $ 40,000 from a neighborhood pharmacist, Kubrick shot and edited "Kiss Me, Kill Me" from principle photography to completion in under 10 months.

In addition to the running time, many will find the film's "happy" ending at the train station a shock when compared to the bleak codas of most of Kubrick's later films. Kubrick himself had planned to end the film on a more downbeat tone, but he intended his second feature to be his "calling card" to Hollywood, and wanted to ensure that the film was commercially viable. Turns out it was: Kubrick sold the film to United Artists, who released it under the title Killer's Kiss.

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Those tell-tale Kubrickian signatures:

• Stark, naturalistic cinematography (influenced by the photography of Arthur "Weegee" Fellig, one of Kubrick's idols).
• Weird dream sequences: a floating POV down an alley, actually negative photography, anticipating the later dimensional journey from 2001.
• Creepy female mannequins, later to appear in a more lascivious form in A Clockwork Orange.
• An axe used in the climactic duel, later the weapon of choice by Jack Torrance in The Shining.

Killer's Kiss is available in North America on VHS and DVD from MGM/UA home video, and the transfer used is terrific. Has anyone else seen this film? How do you compare it to the later works? Think Kubrick's sophomore entry is an accomplished student film, or the model to which he should have stuck with for the remainder of his career?

- Robert L

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