The Death Kiss

Last updated

The Death Kiss
Thedeathkissposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Edwin L. Marin
Written by Gordon Kahn
Barry Barringer
Based onThe Death Kiss
1932 novel
by Madelon St. Dennis
Produced by E. W. Hammons, Burt Kelly
Starring David Manners
Adrienne Ames
Bela Lugosi
John Wray
Vince Barnett
Edward Van Sloan
Cinematography Norbert Brodine
Edited by Rose Loewinger
Production
company
Distributed by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures
Release date
  • January 8, 1933 (1933-01-08)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language English

The Death Kiss is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film starring David Manners as a crusading studio writer, Adrienne Ames as an actress, and Bela Lugosi as a studio manager. The thriller features three leading players from the previous year's Dracula (Lugosi, Manners, and Edward Van Sloan), and was the first film directed by Edwin L. Marin.

Contents

The film was produced by KBS Productions at Tiffany Pictures and released by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures. The film's main plot devices was reused for the 1946 French film That's Not the Way to Die starring Erich von Stroheim. The film is currently in the public domain.

Plot

During the filming of a death scene of The Death Kiss, leading man Myles Brent is really shot and killed. Tonart Studios manager Joseph Steiner (Lugosi) is assigned to handle the situation. The studio wants to pass it off as a simple accident, but screenwriter Franklyn Drew (Manners) digs a bullet out of a wall and tells Homicide Detective Lieutenant Sheehan that it is a .38 caliber, while the guns used in the film are all .45s.

Sheehan finds a letter in the dead man's pocket, in which Brent wrote to his lawyer that Marcia Lane (Ames), his co-star and ex-wife, would not sign a release as beneficiary of his $200,000 life insurance policy. Chalmers, an alcoholic extra with a self-admitted grudge against Brent for getting him fired as head gaffer (electrician), is spotted trying to dispose of a loaded .38, but Drew points out that the gun has not been fired.

Drew suggests they view the footage of the fatal scene for clues, but somebody knocks out the projectionist and burns the print using a cigarette with rouge on it. It is a special rouge normally used by only two women. One was away on location, making Lane the prime suspect. Before another print can be made, the negative is destroyed with acid.

While snooping around on the set, Drew finds a derringer mounted inside a lamp and electrically wired to be fired remotely, but he is knocked out and the gun taken. He goes to question Chalmers, but finds him dead beside a glass of poison and a written confession. However, Drew finds several clues that make him suspicious. Through more detective work, he discovers that the new battery of Lane's car is dry, and battery fluid is poisonous. Meanwhile, Goldsmith comes to see Lane; she rejects his advances once again.

Death Kiss ad from The Film Daily, 1932 Death Kiss - The Film Daily, Jul-Dec 1932 (page 1075 crop).jpg
Death Kiss ad from The Film Daily , 1932

In Brent's dressing room, Drew finds a letter from a love-stricken married woman named "Agnes" and a hotel room key. Later, in Steiner's office, Sheehan takes Lane into custody; Drew spots a photo of a woman on the desk; the inscription reveals that Steiner's wife is named Agnes. When Drew goes to the hotel, he finds out from a bellhop that Brent had been there with a woman; her husband was waiting, and the two men got into a fight.

The studio decides to finish the film (only the last, fatal scene needs to be shot), using a double for Brent and arranging for Lane's temporary release. Drew finds out from the prop man that the guns were originally supposed to be .38s, but he made an unauthorized substitution. Drew takes him to Sheehan. Just as he is about to reveal who ordered the guns, the lights go out. (The murderer had overheard the conversation through a studio microphone.) After a gunfight and chase, the killer falls to his death. It is Avery, the director.

Cast

Release

The Death Kiss was originally scheduled for a national release on December 25, 1932. However, the release was delayed by the addition of tinted sequences to the film, and The Death Kiss instead released on January 8, 1933. [1] (Though technically, the scenes weren't tinted in the traditional sense, but by hand-coloring each frame a la the early method used by such pioneers as Georges Melies.)

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Lane (actor, born 1905)</span> American actor (1905–2007)

Charles Lane was an American character actor and centenarian whose career spanned 76 years.

<i>Lady in the Lake</i> 1947 film by Robert Montgomery

Lady in the Lake is a 1947 American film noir starring Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames and Jayne Meadows. An adaptation of the 1943 Raymond Chandler murder mystery The Lady in the Lake, the picture was also Montgomery's directorial debut, and last in either capacity for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) after eighteen years with the studio. Montgomery's use of point-of-view cinematography and its failure was blamed for the end of his career at MGM.

<i>Dracula</i> (1931 English-language film) 1931 film

Dracula is a 1931 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed and co-produced by Tod Browning from a screenplay written by Garrett Fort and starring Bela Lugosi in the title role. It is based on the 1924 stage play Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which in turn is adapted from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Lugosi portrays Count Dracula, a vampire who emigrates from Transylvania to England and preys upon the blood of living victims, including a young man's fiancée.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrienne Ames</span> American actress (1907–1947)

Adrienne Ames was an American film actress. Early in her career she was known as Adrienne Truex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Manners</span> Canadian-born American actor (1900–1998)

David Joseph Manners was a Canadian-American actor who plays John Harker in Tod Browning's 1931 horror classic Dracula, which stars Bela Lugosi in the title role. The following year, Manners portrayed the archaeologist Frank Whemple in The Mummy, another pre-Code thriller by Universal Pictures.

<i>The Big Sleep</i> (1946 film) 1946 US film noir by Howard Hawks

The Big Sleep is a 1946 American film noir directed by Howard Hawks. William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman co-wrote the screenplay, which adapts Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as private detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge in a story that begins with blackmail and leads to multiple murders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Brophy</span> American actor (1895–1960)

Edward Santree Brophy was an American character actor and comedian, as well as an assistant director and second unit director during the 1920s. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently portrayed dumb cops and gangsters, both serious and comic.

<i>The Black Cat</i> (1934 film) 1934 American film

The Black Cat is a 1934 American pre-Code horror film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi. It was Universal Pictures' biggest box office hit of the year, and was the first of eight films to feature both Karloff and Lugosi. In 1941, Lugosi appeared in a comedy horror mystery film with the same title, which was also named after and ostensibly "suggested by" Edgar Allan Poe's short story.

<i>Werewolf of London</i> 1935 film by Stuart Walker

Werewolf of London is a 1935 horror film directed by Stuart Walker and starring Henry Hull as the titular werewolf. The supporting cast includes Warner Oland, Valerie Hobson, Lester Matthews, and Spring Byington. Jack Pierce, who is best known for creating the iconic makeup worn by Boris Karloff in the 1931 film Frankenstein, created the film's werewolf makeup. Produced by Universal Pictures, Werewolf of London was the first feature-length werewolf film.

<i>Murders in the Rue Morgue</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

Murders in the Rue Morgue is a 1932 American horror film directed by Robert Florey, based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1841 short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". The plot is about Doctor Mirakle, a carnival sideshow entertainer and scientist who kidnaps Parisian women to mix their blood with that of his gorilla, Erik. As his experiments fail because of the quality of his victims' blood, Mirakle meets with Camille L'Espanye, and has her kidnapped and her mother murdered, leading to suspicion falling on Camille's fiance, Pierre Dupin, a medical student who has already become interested in the earlier murders.

<i>The Return of the Vampire</i> 1943 horror film starting Bela Lugosi

The Return of the Vampire is a 1943 American horror film directed by Lew Landers and starring Bela Lugosi, Frieda Inescort, Nina Foch, Miles Mander, Roland Varno, and Matt Willis. Its plot follows a vampire named Armand Tesla, who has two encounters with Englishwoman Lady Jane Ainsley, the first taking place during World War I, and the second during World War II.

<i>Death Wish</i> (1974 film) 1974 American vigilante action thriller film

Death Wish is a 1974 American vigilante action-thriller film loosely based on the 1972 novel of the same title by Brian Garfield. Directed by Michael Winner, the film stars Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, an architect who becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered and daughter molested during a home invasion. This was the first film in the Death Wish film series; it was followed eight years later with Death Wish II and other similar films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitchell Lewis (actor)</span> American actor

Mitchell Lewis was an American film actor whose career as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player encompassed both silent and sound films.

<i>The Mad Miss Manton</i> 1938 film by Leigh Jason

The Mad Miss Manton is a 1938 American screwball comedy-mystery film directed by Leigh Jason and starring Barbara Stanwyck as fun-loving socialite Melsa Manton and Henry Fonda as newspaper editor Peter Ames. Melsa and her debutante friends hunt for a murderer while eating bonbons, flirting with Ames, and otherwise behaving like irresponsible socialites. Ames is also after the murderer, as well as Melsa's hand in marriage.

<i>The Dark Eyes of London</i> (film) 1939 British film

The Dark Eyes of London is a 1939 British horror film produced by John Argyle and directed by Walter Summers, and starring Béla Lugosi, Hugh Williams, and Greta Gynt. The film is an adaptation of the 1924 novel of the same name by Edgar Wallace. The film is about a scientist named Dr. Orloff who commits a series of murders for insurance money, while periodically disguising himself as the blind manager of a charity to further his scheme.

<i>Kill Theory</i> 2009 American film

Kill Theory is a 2009 horror-thriller film directed by Chris Moore in his directorial debut and written by Kelly C. Palmer.

<i>The Black Camel</i> (film) 1931 film

The Black Camel is a 1931 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Hamilton MacFadden and starring Warner Oland, Sally Eilers, Bela Lugosi, and Dorothy Revier. It is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Earl Derr Biggers. It is the second film to star Oland as detective Charlie Chan, and the sole surviving title of the first five Chan films starring Oland. The Black Camel marked the film debut of Robert Young.

<i>Genius at Work</i> 1946 film by Leslie Goodwins

Genius at Work is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Leslie Goodwins and written by Monte Brice and Robert E. Kent. The film stars Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Anne Jeffreys, Lionel Atwill and Bela Lugosi. The film was released on October 20, 1946, by RKO Pictures.

<i>From Headquarters</i> (1933 film) 1933 film by William Dieterle

From Headquarters is a 1933 American pre-Code murder mystery film starring George Brent, Margaret Lindsay and Eugene Pallette, and directed by William Dieterle.

<i>Return of the Ape Man</i> 1944 film by Phil Rosen

Return of the Ape Man is a 1944 American film distributed by Monogram Pictures. It was directed by Philip Rosen with top-billed star Bela Lugosi and supporting actors John Carradine, George Zucco, Frank Moran, Judith Gibson and Michael Ames.

References

  1. "The Death Kiss (1933)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The First 100 Years, 1893–1993. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 1, 2023. Retrieved January 1, 2023.