Review of Killer's Kiss (1955) by Clark B — 14 Jan 2011

Ok, look. If you`re just a regular guy, and not a pear shaped movie dork, skip this early Kubrick film for heavens sake. Pay no attention to these five star reviews.

This movie is stiffly pretentious and so poorly done it has probably been confused with avant-garde art, explaining these rave reviews. The story is a slow, skeletal outline of a noir plot, told mostly through stilted voiceover, no doubt because of audio issues. It's an awkward way to tell the story and CANNOT have been a considered choice. The acting is amateurish, and it never builds enough momentum to generate any real suspense.

Kubrick or not, almost everything about this film is terrible. What it does offer are some very sharp visual compositions, fussily done, which are so much better than anything else in the movie, it`s jarring. This is NOT a real movie though, it`s more like a coffee table book, with pretty b&w pictures, and when there is any movement or talking within the frame it falls apart. Even clocking in at 67 minutes it feels padded.

I suspect some of these reviews are more about Kubrick, and the viewers own pretentions, than what is actually on screen. I watched it out of curiosity, but I find it hard to believe anyone enjoyed it except as a reflection of their own wonderfully superior taste. Bottom line, Kubrick didn`t know what he was doing yet. Watch `The Killing` instead. 2 stars.