A Kiss for a Killer (1957)

Touches You

Better than most people think

Absolutely the worst movie.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Just before gathering up 100 French films to watch over 100 days,I decided to watch Julien Duvivier's superb adaptation of James Hadley Chase's Chair de Poule,which a fellow IMDber had very kindly given me the chance to discover.Being very interested in seeing another Chase adaptation over the 100 days,I was pleased to get the opportunity from a kind fellow IMDber to witness a new French Film Noir take on Chase,which led to me getting ready to see the killer kiss.The plot:Sent to approve a transaction,bank clerk Philippe Delaroche meets lonely heiress Betty Farnwell.Taken by Delaroche's good looks,Farnwell's asks him out,and quickly gets married to Delaroche.Going on a luxury honeymoon with his new wife, Delaroche gets his first glimpse of Farnsworth's much younger assistant Eva Dollan. Enchanted by her sexy looks, Delaroche goes behind Farnwell's back,and starts an affair with Dollan during the honeymoon (what a gent!) During the honeymoon, Delaroche finds himself enjoying Farnwell's cash,whilst also enjoying the sense of danger tied in his affair with Dollan.Wanting to get out of the marriage in order to get closer to Dollan, Delaroche starts making plans over how he can get his cold hands on Betty's riches.View on the film:Stomping around her hollow mansion, Isa Miranda gives a brilliant frosty performance as Farnwell,whose diamonds and lavish dresses Miranda burns away to expose the chard soul of a dame who has been pushed to the side one too many times.Dressed to impress in sharp suits, Henri Vidal gives a crisp performance as Film Noir rogue Philippe Delaroche,as Vidal shatters Delaroche's chiselled looks to uncover the menace laying in waiting.Diving in,the sexy Mylène Demongeot (who appears topless!) gives an exquisite performance as Dollan,by Demongeot giving Dollan a fragile appearance,which allows Dollan to wrap herself around Delaroche.Giving Farnwell a viper tongue,the screenplay by co-writer/(along with François Boyer & Annette Wademant) director Henri Verneuil kisses Film Noir with decayed melodrama. Shutting them all in the mansion,the writers make the major setting in their adaptation of Chase's pulp one that is rotten to the core,where all the wealth that Delaroche finds himself surrounded by,leads to a burning desire to get as much of it for himself as possible.Following Delaroche into the mansion, Verneuil and cinematographer Christian Matras stylishly take an "upward" view,that displays the paintings that Farnwell's has had done of herself,and also,how despite being painted in cash,how much the mansion and its inhibitions have slid into the harsh Film Noir shade. Backed by a shimmering score from Paul Durand, Verneuil gives the outdoor scenes a fantastic,simmering Film Noir mood,thanks to the glare of the baking sun allowing Verneuil to keep Farnwell blinded by a wickedly cynical streak of humour,as Delaroche gives Farnwell's a killer's kiss.

The title means that you've won a game and finally everything in a card or a sports game ;it is a hint at the game Alfred Adam plays with his mates while Henri Vidal is doing very bad things behind his back.Henri Verneuil,the pretentious Nouvelle Vague was always putting down,is the perfect Saturday-night-at-the-movies director.His movies are commercial,for sure ,they are not art house cinema ,but this director,who displayed respect for his audience,never pretended to work any other way,as latter works would show ;they are actually all very entertaining ,and to my eyes , not in the least likely to make me yawn my head off,as it is often the case with Godard's meaningful ,deep,would be masterworks.Henri Vidal ,two years before his death,was the most popular actor of the era ,although addicted to drugs;his Partner,sexy Mylène Demongeot ,appears topless in a brief sequence ;this actress ,who shone in "Les Sorcières De Salem " (from Arthur Miller),got lost into mediocrities in the sixties,when they wanted her to become another Bardot;and Isa Miranda is the wealthy aging woman,prole Vidal marries for her money ;it becomes soon obvious he 'd rather have her secretary (Demongeot) and the lovers decide to get rid of the burdensome woman who enjoys poetry ,unlike his rude uneducated hubby.Vidal's "alibi" is a bit too implausible ,but one cannot deny the suspense is sustained till they find the dead(?) body of the wife;and there's another unexpected twist ,for the hot secretary leads a double life .An user pointed it out,the final scene disappoints a bit,but it is all in all a good thriller with a touch of humor thrown in for good measure.

Henri Verneuil ("The Burglars," "The 25th Hour") displays his finesse with this early accomplishment, 1957's "Killer for a Killer" (AKA: "Une Mannche et la Belle") starring Henri Vidal and Mylene Demongeot (Otto Preminger's "Bonjour Tristesse"). Based on an somewhat obscure novel by James Hadley Chase titled appropriately "The Sucker Punch," the well crafted screenplay by Verneuil, Francois Boyer and Annette Wademmant is so skillfully directed and acted (I am sure audiences would be more familiar with Vidal today as he consistently worked consistently since the forties until he died at the age of forty not long after this film was released. Demongeot may have had more notoriety to her name today, but she amounted to little more than a poor man's Bardot. But they are both good here with Isa Miranda playing the rich older woman they conspire to kill, with several twists and the much fore-shadowed, but devastating "sucker punch" provided by the great handling of the plot. Verneuil is definitely a director to look out as he consistently delivers from what I've seen from him so far. Also outstanding is the music by Paul Durand, cinematography by Christian Matras and the editing by Louisette Hautecoeur. The copy I saw had been provided with a great transfer to DVD by Rene Château Video and Cinedis. A real diamond! But you know they CAN be found "in the rough."

Prolific crime writer, Rene Raymond, wrote over 80 thrillers under the pseudonym, James Hadley Chase. These dime novels were extremely popular in the 1940s and 1950s, particularly in England and France. One of the least known and least promising of Chase's tales would appear to be "The Sucker Punch", but Henri Verneuil turned it into this excellent movie, which not only has the advantage of his engrossing screenplay (written in collaboration with Annette Wademant and Francois Boyer) but his inspired, powerful direction. The acting of the stars, Henri Vidal, Mylene Demongeot, Isa Miranda and Alfred Adam, cannot be faulted; while the photography by Christian Matras is, as we might expect from Matras, absolutely outstanding.