Respected and Well-Liked Actor Burt Lancaster Began His Long Career During the Spontaneous Eruption of the Genre that Would Later be Labeled Film-Noir Years After.
In Fact 9 out of the 10 Movies that Launched His Steady and Solid Filmography would Fall Easily in the Dark-Side of Films Affectionately Called Film-Noir...
THE KILLERS (1946), BRUTE FORCE (1947), DESERT FURY (1947), I WALK ALONE (1947), ALL MY SONS (1948), SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948), KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS, CRISS CROSS (1949) and ROPE OF SAND (1949)...
and Finally, was No Stranger to the Transitional Replacement Genre Neo-Noir, Like the Exceptional...SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957).
The Title..."Kiss the Blood Off My Hands"...Actually has + & - Effects on those who are Attracted by the Lurid Declaration and then, a common Criticism of the Film is..."Doesn't live up to the Title"...Nothing Could Except a Postcode Horror Movie.
Taken Metaphorically Lancaster's War-Vet who Suffered 2 Years in a Nazi POW Prison-Camp, is "Kissed" by the Lovely and Demure Joan Fontaine.
Except for the Last 5 Min. That Capitulates to the Stringent Motion-Picture-Code, this is Pure Film-Noir,
It Takes Place Mostly at Night, in the Fog and Rain, in Bomb-Scarred City Streets, Evil and Scruffy Predators Lurk in the "Fun-House" Corridors within the Nooks and Crannies of Brick and Mortar. Nikolas Rosa's Score Haunts the Backgrounds as Our Paranoid and Sick Anti-Hero Runs for His Life as Joan Fontaine is Ogled, Approached and is in Peril and there seems to be No Escape for Either of Them.
Robert Newton Makes Much of the Villainous, Silver-Tongued Imp, and Menaces the Couple Throughout, with 1-Scene in Her Apartment that Could Have Females Shrinking in Terror.
This is an Underrated, SemI-Obscure Movie that is Over-Shadowed by Others...Like His Debut..."The Killers' ' (1946).
But this Excellent Film Should Not be Passed By.
The 2 Stars are Compelling, the Atmosphere is Dark, Claustrophobic, and Threatening,
it's Steeped in the Film-Noir Tradition.
A Must-See Gem.
In Fact 9 out of the 10 Movies that Launched His Steady and Solid Filmography would Fall Easily in the Dark-Side of Films Affectionately Called Film-Noir...
THE KILLERS (1946), BRUTE FORCE (1947), DESERT FURY (1947), I WALK ALONE (1947), ALL MY SONS (1948), SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948), KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS, CRISS CROSS (1949) and ROPE OF SAND (1949)...
and Finally, was No Stranger to the Transitional Replacement Genre Neo-Noir, Like the Exceptional...SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957).
The Title..."Kiss the Blood Off My Hands"...Actually has + & - Effects on those who are Attracted by the Lurid Declaration and then, a common Criticism of the Film is..."Doesn't live up to the Title"...Nothing Could Except a Postcode Horror Movie.
Taken Metaphorically Lancaster's War-Vet who Suffered 2 Years in a Nazi POW Prison-Camp, is "Kissed" by the Lovely and Demure Joan Fontaine.
Except for the Last 5 Min. That Capitulates to the Stringent Motion-Picture-Code, this is Pure Film-Noir,
It Takes Place Mostly at Night, in the Fog and Rain, in Bomb-Scarred City Streets, Evil and Scruffy Predators Lurk in the "Fun-House" Corridors within the Nooks and Crannies of Brick and Mortar. Nikolas Rosa's Score Haunts the Backgrounds as Our Paranoid and Sick Anti-Hero Runs for His Life as Joan Fontaine is Ogled, Approached and is in Peril and there seems to be No Escape for Either of Them.
Robert Newton Makes Much of the Villainous, Silver-Tongued Imp, and Menaces the Couple Throughout, with 1-Scene in Her Apartment that Could Have Females Shrinking in Terror.
This is an Underrated, SemI-Obscure Movie that is Over-Shadowed by Others...Like His Debut..."The Killers' ' (1946).
But this Excellent Film Should Not be Passed By.
The 2 Stars are Compelling, the Atmosphere is Dark, Claustrophobic, and Threatening,
it's Steeped in the Film-Noir Tradition.
A Must-See Gem.