charlieehrlich Stanley Kubrick's second film, Killer's Kiss was summed up by one influential critic as an experiment in esoterica. Filmed on a budget of $40,000 (raised by Kubrick's relatives), the 65-minute, black-and-white drama is a true "noir" film, shot mostly at night in a variety of seedy Manhattan locations. The plot concerns the efforts of boxer Jamie Smith (who also narrates the film) to rescue nightclub dancer Irene Kane from the lecherous maneuvers of club owner Frank Silvera. The much-admired climax finds Smith, Silvera, and the villain's henchmen pursuing each other in a warehouse filled with grotesque-looking store mannequins. Director-writer-photographer-editor Kubrick didn't like the happy ending imposed on the film by its distributor (United Artists), but it was a lot more logical and satisfying than the filmmaker's own planned denouement. The imperiled leading lady Irene Kane later became famous as TV commentator and journalist Chris Chase; also appearing in the film is Kubrick's then-wife Ruth Sobotka.

TheLittleSongbird While it is not among Kubricks' best (his masterpiece to me will always be 2001', though personally rate most of his films very highly indeed), 'Killer's Kiss' is a significant improvement over his previous film 'Fear and Desire' (by far his worst and the only film of his this reviewer deems bad).'Killer's Kiss' has problems. Aside from a suitably slimy turn from Frank Silvera as the villain, the acting is quite weak with a lot of going through the motions and lack of interest. The music is overly bombastic and inappropriately jaunty, instead of fitting with or adding to what's going on on screen it distracts heavily from it. The film also gets off to a rather slow and uninteresting start.Once 'Killer's Kiss' gets going though, it's quite good and solid. There is much more of Kubrick's trademark directing style and it's far more accomplished whereas in 'Fear and Desire' inexperience showed badly. For a very low-budget film, it also looks great, it's beautifully shot and there is some wonderful use of lighting, light and shadow.There is nothing confusing, self-indulgent or irritating about the writing, and aside from a slow start and a couple of moments too stretched out there is enough suspense and tension to keep being engrossed in the atmosphere-heavy story. The climax is just terrific and the ballet sequence is also memorable.All in all, quite good and improves significantly over the mistakes made previously. It's still not perfect and doesn't see Kubrick at his best, but it's still solid. 7/10 Bethany Cox

clearwinner This movie seems way ahead of its times just due to its cinematic pleasure. The protagonist narrates the story that had happened to him in the past few days and it seems like he is recalling all those events which make it very genuine. There is a boxing match, a fight between the lead lady and villain and then the hero takes on the charge trying to rescue the girl.There is a good turn of events in these parts but all these have become so very clichéd that just does not interest you but on the better side you can view it as how those scenes were shot and then you could appreciate something. I particularly loved the roof top shot when the hero runs over the connected roofs and final clash between the hero and the villain, there was something to it. It was humorous as well as satisfying. So this movie seems to be for those students studying film direction, and it is only this part the movie gives something and that too quality stuff considering the genre. Apart from that there is nothing in the movie, simple plot, some good cinematography, good direction but plot is too weak for you to like the movie.

CinemaClown A severely underrated film-noir that turned out to be far more engaging than expected, Killer's Kiss is no masterpiece in my opinion but it did serve its purpose well as a warm up feature for director Stanley Kubrick's talents before he started churning out one masterpiece after another until the very end of his legendary film career & is as experimental as his other features.The story revolves around Davey Gordon; a 29-year old boxer well past his prime, who's waiting at the train station for his girl and in an extended flashback recounts the happenings of his recent past. Filmed on a shoe-string budget, it presents Stanley Kubrick in charge of the responsibilities of director, cinematographer & editor all by himself, at which he impresses greatly.The film employs many unconventional & new tricks of shooting a picture from start to finish and exhibits the remarkable eye for detail Kubrick has when it comes to camera placement & lighting. Editing also never lets the uncertainty go out of the story & music manages to fit its accompanying sequences rather well. Performance by the cast isn't anything special but every one chipped in fine in their given roles.On an overall scale, Killer's Kiss is a very well crafted & firmly composed film which over the years has influenced cinema in a number of ways with its narrative structure & inventive use of camera angles. But since Kubrick went on to achieve even greater prominence in his later films, Killer's Kiss seems to be faced with no choice but to accept a rank provided at the back. Don't miss it.