Movie · 1947 · Crime, Thriller · 1h 39m · NR · English
Curator score: 6.3/10 (18.5K ratings)
From her lips there is no escape!
Overview
An ex-con trying to go straight must face a crazed criminal out for revenge.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.3/10
IMDb: 7.4/10
Letterboxd: 3.65/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Henry Hathaway
Production
20th Century Fox
Cast
Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, Richard Widmark, Taylor Holmes, Howard Smith, Karl Malden, Anthony Ross, Robert Adler, Rollin Bauer, Harry Bellaver, Dennis Bohan, Nina Borget, Susan Cabot, Alexander Campbell, Harry Carter, Dort Clark, Eva Condon, Harry Cooke, Harold Crane
Curator Review
Verdict
A tense, hard-edged noir with a standout villain performance and a strong redemption-through-danger storyline. It’s especially rewarding if you like classic crime films that lean into fatalism, moral compromise, and memorable supporting turns.
Best for
classic noir fans
viewers who enjoy psychotic screen villains
crime-thriller audiences
fans of redemption stories with bleak outcomes
people interested in landmark 1940s studio-era crime cinema
Skip if
you want a fast, modern thriller pace
you dislike melodramatic moralizing in older films
you need deep psychological realism over genre archetypes
you prefer crime stories without voiceover or procedural framing
Overview
Kiss of Death is one of those postwar noirs that feels built around a single unforgettable force of personality. Victor Mature gives the film a solid, bruised center, but Richard Widmark’s Tommy Udo is the reason it has endured: a gleefully unstable predator whose cackle and cruelty make every scene feel dangerous.
Worth noting
The movie works best as a study in pressure. A man trying to go straight gets trapped between family duty, legal coercion, and the inescapable logic of the underworld. That setup gives the film a grim momentum, even when the script leans on familiar noir devices and a somewhat blunt moral framework.
Bottom line
What lingers is the atmosphere of inevitability. It’s not the most subtle crime film of its era, but it is a sharp, efficient one, with enough location grit and menace to make the stakes feel immediate. For classic noir viewers, it’s an easy recommendation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
theriverjordan (4★) · 161 likes
“Kiss of Death” is a double peck on each cheek from the Angel and Devil on its lead actor’s shoulders.
Fittingly for Victor Mature, who gave one of the best antihero performances in classic cinema as Doc Holliday in “My Darling Clementine,” he finds himself in “Kiss” as the axis between crushing weights of good and evil.
Respectively, those are Brian Donlevy as a morally sound but ethically dodgy assistant DA, and Richard Widmark as gang fixer Tommy Udo. With… more
Lexzilla (4★) · 150 likes
You just know a character is going to be a wrong-un when you’re introduced to them and they have the craziest sounding laugh which they bring out frequently. And then you’re vindicated in your assessment by them murdering a disabled woman. There’s something so fun in going ‘I knew it’.
It’s satisfying too. But then the whole film is. It’s not groundbreaking or unexpectedly creative or anything like that. But what it is, is a solidly good noir that matches… more
Slig001 (4.5★) · 144 likes
Richard Widmark may have got fourth billing for this, his debut performance, but he absolutely steals the show as psychotic gangster Tommy Udo. Every moment he's on screen is great, and he absolutely dominates the film in the second half despite relatively little screentime. Kiss of Death is essentially the story of two criminals; one who is forced to become a stool pigeon through a series of unfortunate events, and another who is not happy with that decision! The film's… more Richard Widmark may have got fourth billing for this, his debut performance, but he absolutely steals the show as psychotic gangster Tommy Udo. Every moment he's on screen is great, and he absolutely dominates the film in the second half despite relatively little screentime. Kiss of Death is essentially the story of two criminals; one who is forced to become a stool pigeon through a series of unfortunate events, and another who is not happy with that decision! The film's… more
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (4★) · 113 likes
Throughout cinema history, film genres have changed in a variety of ways. The definition of Thriller today is not the same as what it used to be back in 70 or 80 years ago. Even then, there were a few variations on it.
What makes this movie so good is the way Hecht, Lederer and director Henry Hathaway are able to combine the classic mystery and film noir with a story of a man on a quest for redemption by… more
DallasFrance (4★) · 88 likes
Good film noirs make it hurt.
The good guy is doomed, because it’s a nasty world.
The bad guy becoming a good guy is still doomed, because it’s a nasty world that never forgets.
The bad guy is also doomed, cause f*ck that guy, amirite?
Nick Bianco, played by Victor Mature, is a complex man that falls into all three categories, depending on your perspective. Then there’s Tommy Udo, played by Richard Widmark, who delights in knowing exactly who he is.… more