THE DEATH KISS
US, 1932, 71 minutes, Black and white.
David Manners, Bela Lugosi, Edward Van Sloan, Adrienne Ames, John Wray, Alexander Carr.
Directed by Edwin L. Marin.
The Death Kiss is a brief murder mystery thriller. It begins as if there were a mob killing of an innocent victim outside a hotel. However, it soon appears that this is a film set – but that the murder is real. Most of the action takes place in interiors, especially on the set and in various offices as well as homes.
The film stars David Manners, Bela Lugosi and Edward Van Sloan who had all appeared the previous year in the classic Dracula. Their performances are quite different here – especially Lugosi, with the audience suspicious of him, but innocent of the murder.
There is some patter between the hero, a scriptwriter of murder mysteries played by David Manners, and the chief detective played by John Wray. The patter between them is in the hardboiled American detective tradition.
The film is complicated in its setting up clues, the policeman following obvious signs but the writer pointing out the difficulties in his theories every time. There is a set-up at the end, with a restaging of the death scene and the revelation that the film director is the culprit, wanting to kill his star because of his relationship with his wife.
The film was directed by Edward L. Marin, a veteran director of quite a number of small-budget and genre films – some of which remain quite well known in their genres.
1.A popular murder mystery? 1932 style?
2.The black and white photography, the sound engineering, camera movement – early in the sound era? The action generally being confined to indoors?
3.The opening, the atmosphere, the femme fatale, the kiss, the shooting? And the actual murder? Suspicions on the actress? On the manager? On Chalmers? The various motivations?
4.The focus on Joseph Steiner, Bela Lugosi, seemingly sinister but friendly, the manager, under suspicion – but innocent?
5.Leo A. Grossmith as the president of the studio, his Jewish exclamations, his tangling of grammar in the Samuel L. Goldwyn vein? Under suspicion? His assistant, the effeminate type and the jokes about his effeminacy, especially when the security guard thinks he is the murderer?
6.Drew, his manner, relationship with Marcia? His interventions, his humour? His interactions with Sheehan, Sheehan and his dry tone, irritated by Drew, listening to his explanations, finally agreeing with him? The jokey banter between the two?
7.Marcia, the leading lady, the divorce from the murdered man, under suspicion, her car battery used to murder Chalmers?
8.The ingenuity of the murder, the set-up of the gun, within the camera? The poisoning of Chalmers – and his complaints about being fired by the star?
9.The director, his being present – but not under suspicion? The revelation that he was the murderer?
10.Conventional characters for this kind of murder mystery, the police, the investigation, the complications, the photography of the melee at the end when the lights went out – a significant use of camera, light and dark in 1932?
