1932 was a remarkable year in film for Bela Lugosi. After his success in DRACULA the previous year, he made 5 movies for 5 different studios. After starting out with MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE for Universal, he made WHITE ZOMBIE for United Artists, CHANDU THE MAGICIAN for Fox, THE DEATH KISS for KBS Productions, and finally ISLAND OF LOST SOULS for Paramount. He never became a contract player for one studio the way Boris Karloff did. While this enabled him to work for different studios, they were increasingly Poverty Row outfits like Monogram or PRC.
4 of the 5 were made for major name studios but one, THE DEATH KISS, was not. This ensured that not as many people would see it and that it would disappear quickly after its release. However, that also ensured that it would survive in a quality print due to a lack of screenings. A 16mm print did circulate on TV briefly but a 35mm print was deposited with the Library of Congress for copyright purposes and it is that print which is used for this Blu-ray from Kino. While it isn’t perfect (there are a few missing frames and the occasional sound distortion), it looks and sounds really good for a low budget film.
The plot for THE DEATH KISS is nothing special. The title refers to the movie being filmed as well as the one you are watching. Despite Lugosi’s presence, this is not a horror movie. On the surface, it’s your typical 1930s murder mystery. The lead actor is killed and there are suspects aplenty who have good motives for committing the murder. An amateur sleuth who writes detective stories tries to solve it while battling the police who are quick to accuse the wrong people who acquit themselves by dying. He also has an ulterior motive for getting involved in that his girlfriend winds up as the number one suspect.
While the mystery itself is no great shakes although the revelation of the murderer’s identity is unexpected, what makes THE DEATH KISS so fascinating for anyone who enjoys old movies is that it takes place in a movie studio and gives the viewer a first hand behind-the-scenes look at how a 1930s movie was made. Cameras, lights, sound microphones, and the sound stage itself all play a part in the solution.The Tiffany Studio, which is re-dubbed the Tonart Studio for the movie, was one of the Poverty Row outfits that cranked out B movies under different names in the 1930s.
The nominal star of the film is David Manners, a Canadian born leading man who appeared in DRACULA and THE MUMMY. The female lead and chief suspect is Adrienne Ames, a B movie actress whose career quickly fizzled out. The strong supporting cast includes Lugosi as a studio executive and his DRACULA nemesis Edward Van Sloan as a director. Also in the cast in tiny roles are Barbara Bedford and Alan Roscoe who were the leads in the major silent movie THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1920). THE DEATH KISS is a fun little movie that is better as film history than as a murder mystery.
The Capsule Critic 