A Kiss Before Dying (1956)

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I wanted to see a young Joanne Woodward and an older Mary Astor. Both two great actresses. But Joanne does not have a big role, she's killed before the half of the movie. And Mary has a small role, she's the mother of the character played by Robert Wagner. Which never was a favorite of mine, but he's a good actor. Here too he performs well the role of the disturbed criminal. A pleasure to see Virginia Leith, from "The Brain That Would not Die", very sexy in swimsuit beside the pool. Another nice surprise to see George Macready, from "Gilda", in the role of the father. The film it's not great, just watchable.

Quite a surprise this as I picked the DVD up very cheaply half expecting something noirish. The credits come on and the bright colours and twinkling music suggest romantic comedy, then after briefly looking like another West Side Story, the music is working up a spell and the sensational use of cinemascope and the beautiful colour that was 'DeLuxe' has me spellbound. Not an inappropriate word that here either, 'spellbound', because there is more than a little Hitchcock here. The swirling romantic/menacing music and the boyish charm of the oh so confident, too determined, Bud Corliss, played very well by Robert Wagner. 'I'm twenty-five, Mum' he implores, and he was. Well paced, good looking and if the thrills are few, there is a fine momentum maintained.

Handsome college student Robert Wagner (as Bud Corliss) gets his heiress fiancée, Joanne Woodward (as Dorothy "Dorrie" Kingship), "in trouble". Unfortunately, this means Mr. Wagner can't marry the two months pregnant Ms. Woodward - because her savvy father George Macready (as Leo Kingship) frowns on sex before marriage. Wagner realizes he will have to drop out of school, and support his disinherited love child, unless he can come up with another solution… When Woodward gets up unscathed, after her fall on the bleachers, it's almost like you're watching a cartoon. She suffers nary a scratch, and is too stupid to ask why Wagner expressed so little concern. Still, it's fun to watch 25-year-old Wagner try to get away with it; his is a cool, subliminal performance. And, just when you thought the film couldn't get any better looking, Jeffrey Hunter (as Gordon Grant) and Virginia Leith (as Ellen Kingship) enter the storyline. Director Gerd Oswald gets in some good Hitchcock-like licks; and, Mary Astor (as mother Corliss) dresses up well.****** A Kiss Before Dying (1956) Gerd Oswald ~ Robert Wagner, Joanne Woodward, Virginia Leith

"A Kiss Before Dying" is a tense crime thriller in which a cold, calculating, psychopathic student, who is determined to be rich, ruthlessly pursues his goal without any concern for those who suffer as a result of his actions.Bud Corliss (Robert Wagner) is the son of an absent father who never did well financially and is powerfully driven to take a different route and become wealthy. Having carried out some research on a local mining company, he pursues a plan to make a fortune by becoming a part of the family who own the business. To this end, he has been courting Dorothy (Dorie)Kingship (Joanne Woodward), but a problem arises when she becomes pregnant and marriage is not a viable proposition because her stern, puritanical father would be certain to disinherit her. Dorie doesn't care about being disowned by her father and quite relishes breaking away from his influence but for Bud, this would defeat the purpose of his relationship with her. Bud pretends to be equally keen to go ahead and marry but murders Dorie in a spectacular fashion after having tricked her into writing a note which gives the impression that she's committed suicide.A little time after Dorie's "suicide", Bud starts to court her sister Ellen (Virginia Leith). This is possible because his relationship with Dorie had always been carried on in secret. Unfortunately for Bud, Ellen has never been fully convinced that her sister would have taken her own life and she starts to come across further information which supports that view. When she is led to believe that Bud knew Dorie, her doubts about him grow.Corliss is intense, crafty and full of guile and at the same time lacks any sincerity, passion or spontaneity. Robert Wagner in one of his early screen roles, portrays this complex mixture of qualities well and it's perfectly understandable that his rather dour, downbeat, demeanour would seem quite acceptable to Dorie because of her father's similarly cold nature. Joanne Woodward (also in one of her early roles) is convincingly naive, vulnerable and gullible. It's also rather ironical that a conflict between the two characters should exist in a situation where both are attracted to the idea of marriage to the other because such a move would remove them from their existing circumstances.The scene at the sports field where Bud and Dorie are in the seated area discussing their predicament is visually quite striking as the almost abstract background seems to be closing in on them and in so doing, reinforces the strong sense of despair and entrapment which Bud is feeling at that time. The manner in which Bud is visually revealed as Ellen's new boyfriend and the way in which Dorie's murder is depicted, are just two further highlights of this interesting and absorbing melodrama.