2 early Stanley Kubrick Noir films together on Blu-ray.
THE KILLING (1956)
Stanley Kubrick’s account of an ambitious racetrack robbery is one of Hollywood’s tautest_ twistiest noirs. Aided by a radically time-shuffling narrative, razor-sharp dialogue from pulp novelist Jim Thompson and a phenomenal cast of character actors – including Sterling Hayden (Dr. Strangelove),Coleen Gray (Red River), Timothy Carey (Paths of Glory) and Elisha Cook Jr. (The Maltese Falcon).
The Killing is both a jaunty thriller and a cold-blooded punch to the gut. And with its precise tracking shots and gratifying sense of irony – it’s Kubrick to the core.
Cinema Cult series.
BAFTA Awards 1957 – Nominated Best Film from any Source
Review by Roger Ebert
Stanley Kubrick considered “The Killing” (1956) to be his first mature feature, after a couple of short warm-ups. He was 28 when it was released, having already been an obsessed chess player, a photographer for Look magazine and a director of “March of Time” newsreels. It's tempting to search here for themes and a style he would return to in his later masterpieces, but few directors seemed so determined to make every one of his films an individual, free-standing work…Filmed largely in San Mateo and Venice, Calif., and at the Bay Meadows Racetrack, the movie has the look and feel of glorious 1950s black and white film noir. On a budget of $230,000, Kubrick uses a lot of actual locations. We see a shabby motel with residential rooms by the week or month, the low-rent “luxury” of the Peatty's apartment, the sun-washed streets. Many heist movies feature a chalk talk in which the leader explains the scenario to his gang so that we can visualize it; Jean-Pierre Melville's version of this scene adds immeasurably to “Bob le Flambeur.” Kubrick puts his pieces in place but only when the actual plan is underway do we understand them. We go in like a chess player who knows what the Rook, Knight and Queen do, but doesn't know what will happen in the game. Nor, it turns out, do they all know the rules.
I wouldn't think of giving away the game. The writing and editing are the keys to how this film never seems to be the deceptive assembly that it is, but appears to be proceeding on schedule, whatever that schedule is…Considering that it cheerfully abandons any attempt at chronological suspense, “The Killing” is an unreasonable success…The word that occurs to me in describing Kubrick's approach to Johnny and the film, is “control.” That may suggest the link between this first mature feature and Kubrick's later films, so varied and brilliant."
KILLER'S KISS (1955)
As a man waits at a train station for his girl, he tells us about the recent past and we segue into a long flashback.
Review by Time Out
“Written, edited, shot, produced and directed by Kubrick for a mere $75,000, his second feature is a moody but rather over-arty B thriller whose prime pleasures lie in the high contrast b/w camerawork (Kubrick had been a top photographer for Look). The story is nothing original – a down-at-heel boxer (Smith) falls for a night-club dancer (Kane) after saving her from being raped by her boss (Silvera), who consequently determines to put an end to their romance – but Kubrick makes the most of flashback and dream sequences, and a surreal climactic fight in a warehouse full of mannequins. ”