Ever since Zola wrote 'Therese Raquin' the formula of the young lovers killing off the inconvenient husband has proved extremely popular with writers and film-makers. In this fine adaptation of Hadley Chase's 'The Sucker Punch' the intended victim is the wealthy wife.
Although known as 'A Kiss for a Killer' the original French title loosely translates as 'The Chump and the Babe'. Handsome hunk Henri Vidal is very good as the chump and Mylene Demongeot is magnificent as the babe. The wife is wonderfully played by one of Italy's greatest cinematic prima donnas, Isa Miranda, here seamlessly dubbed by Lita Recio.
Very well directed by craftsman Henri Verneuil, beautifully shot by Christian Matras with an excellent score by Paul Durand. The editing by Louisette Hautecoeur is as always, exemplary.
The murder scene is brilliantly handled and the ending which in lesser hands might be risible is very effective.
I get rather weary of reading reviews in which Demongeot is compared to Bardot. Demongeot is a far better actress but does not have Bardot's notoriety.
As for Henri Vidal, how on earth one wonders could such a fit, athletic man die of a heart attack at the age of forty? One then reads that he had a drug problem which would make his premature demise not quite so surprising.
This is an absorbing, first class film noir in which committing the crime is one thing, living with it quite another.
Review of A Kiss for a Killer
