As a jobbing director Henry Hathaway was one of the best in the
business and his best films, like this one, are classics of their kind.
He made "Kiss of Death" in 1947 and shot it on location and it's a
humdinger of a picture. Victor Mature, (surprisingly excellent), is the
star and he's ably backed by Brian Donleavy and Coleen Gray but it's
Richard Widmark, making his screen debut as the young psychopath Tommy
Udo, who walks off with the picture, picking up an Oscar nomination on the way.
This is the movie in which a giggling Widmark pushes Mildred Dunnock,
in a wheelchair, down a flight of stairs making him one of the most
loved and despised villains in the movies. The first-rate screenplay was
written by Beh Hecht and Charles Lederer and the excellent black and
white cinematography was by the undervalued Norbert Brodine. The theme
of a crook who squeals might now be read as a comment on what was
happening in Hollywood at the time though this has never proved to be as
controversial as "On the Waterfront" would finally become.
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