Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

joe-pearce-1 This is a film very much of its time and it is almost impossible to convey the surprise it would have engendered back then in audiences when it gave us Robert Wagner as a cold-bloodied psychopath, Mr. Wagner having previously been cast, usually to excellent effect, only as admirable and good-looking (very) young men. Reviewers keep comparing its story line to PSYCHO's, but that is pure nonsense. First viewing PSYCHO when it came out, you had no idea that teen semi-idol Anthony Perkins was the killer; the only non-narrative shock element in it was having star Janet Leigh killed off by the end of the film's first half. Seeing Wagner as a psychopath back in 1956 had that same kind of stunning non-narrative shock for viewers, especially since we know he's the bad guy almost from the opening frame. Also, although the story is pretty dark, it is not a noir because noirs almost always depend on an innocent, or at least anti-heroic, male lead who gets into trouble because of, and is often destroyed by, a femme fatale. In this film, there is only one fatal character and it is the male lead. Wagner does it very well, Joanne Woodward is moving as his (first) victim, and even beautiful Virginia Leith comes over pretty well. Jeffrey Hunter as a young, pipe-smoking college professor comes over basically, given his later career identification, as a young pipe-smoking and beardless Jesus Christ, with glasses! But the film is quite good. What keeps it from being truly memorable or even great is that it is based on one of the very great mystery novels of the period by Ira Levin (his first success, and long before ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE STEPFORD WIVES and THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL, it quite literally made his name), and that novel has one of the greatest of all surprises in a mystery novel midway through it, one that could make you drop the book in shock while exclaiming, "Oh, my God!", but it is that effective because you are reading a narrative in which the author can disguise certain plot elements in words, and the shock cannot be duplicated on the screen by virtue of the fact that you can actually SEE the characters going through all their machinations, so that such surprise elements cannot be hidden from the viewer. Too bad, though, because if a writer/director could come up with a way to duplicate Levin's written surprise, he might have a totally brilliant mystery film to offer. In fact, it's nearest relationship to many of Hitchcock's later films is that it is a beautifully filmed daylight thriller. Indeed, most of the worst things in the film happen around noontime, in broad daylight and in glorious Technicolor, and that can be hard to pull off. It is pulled off very well here, indeed. Finally, since I am of the film's period, I can attest to the fact that this movie really does provide a legitimate 1950s atmosphere - visually, ethically and morally. You wouldn't really be all that surprised to see Dwight D. Eisenhower walking through Robert Wagner's college campus!

gilligan1965 I decided to watch this today because the story is written by Ira Levin, and, I've always enjoyed his novels and the movies made from them - "Rosemary's Baby;" "Sliver;" "The Boys From Brazil;" etc.The protagonist is a mean, selfish, and, ruthless young man, but, very clever in a self-serving way.The victim is a sweet and beautiful young lady who became involved with the wrong man.The victim's sister is a smart, beautiful, and, determined young lady who doesn't see her sister's demise as do the police.This is a very good movie of selfish love and lust, and, doing anything and everything it takes to marry into a wealthy family...much like in "A Place in the Sun" (1951).

movie reviews Robert Wagner in his youthful handsomeness days plays an evil sociopath bent on marrying money, he kills one sister Dorothy because she would be disowned by her puritanical father for getting pregnant and goes after the other Ellen. His motive is to get his hands on their father's huge copper mine in Arizona.It was obvious to me that Ellen's boyfriend would be Wagner the minute she mentioned she had a boyfriend....also it was obvious Wagner would be pushed off into the mine at the end. However there are plenty of other twists and surprises that I didn't see coming.A couple odd items no one mentioned...Dorothy's 1957 Thunderbird convertible is copper colored as are the phones and ticker tape machine in the family mansion. There are visual "cues" everywhere commenting on what just happened or what is going to happen. After Dorothy falls down the bleachers (given a helpful push by Wagner) you see a street sign saying SPEED KILLS. I laughed at the reviewer who said this tumble down the bleachers must have been a first for the film industry where a pregnant woman didn't have a miscarriage.The movie holds your interest as it is fast paced with lots of red herrings being fired at you all the time--most fizzle quickly like Wagner about to leave his notebook in the arsenic store room--but not all.Much more knowledgeable reviews exist for this period piece. It was a B grade movie (boiler plate for double features) but a good one.

JLRMovieReviews Would you murder for money? Would you murder to get ahead? Would you marry someone you don't love for a piece of the pie? Robert Wagner is only too eager to do something, anything to get what he wants. What does he want? Mary Astor is his mother, who thinks he's a genius. Joanne Woodward thinks he's sweet and a nice person. Jeffrey Hunter tries to help the police unravel the puzzle that lets victims fall where they will. "A Kiss Before Dying" is a tale of one who thinks he's above suspicion, above the law. This suspenseful and lavishly produced film is a cross between a melodrama and horror, as you're taken on a ride, you can't get off until the end and leaves you wondering, was it all worth it? All we want out of life is security and happiness, but at what price? Forget plausibility and forgive the loopholes. "A Kiss Before Dying" is one movie that you should learn from or else....