Stanley Kubrick’s second feature film is a significant step up from Fear and Desire, but still has an air of amateurism. Audio problems required all dialog and sound effects to be added in post. The Killers, released the following year, would mark his first step into greatness.
Of the three leads only Frank Silvera had a significant film and TV career, with 81 screen credits. At 55 he would accidentally electrocute himself while fixing a garbage disposal. Pretty Irene Kane has only seven credits, mostly TV, but wrote several books under the name Chris Chase.
Pretty Gloria is a taxi dancer, a thing common in older movies, but may confound younger readers. During the early to mid part of the 20th century, young men would go to a dance hall, buy tickets, and use them to dance with a young woman for one song. Typically a ticket would cost ten cents and the girls would earn a nickel per dance. Careers for young women were in short supply.
Longtime fans of TCM will recognize a couple shots used in the TCM “Open All Night” montage. There’s something unpolished about the shots that worked for their purpose. I miss TCMs old aesthetic. I may soon be missing TCM altogether.
Not much to say, really. I struggled to remember details even though I saw it less than a week ago. In actuality, stuff just happens. Killer’s Kiss is interesting because it’s Kubrick and definitely better than his previous effort, but on its own it’s just ok. AMRU 3.