I Watch Films: Kiss Of Death

 

Kiss Of Death

Nick Bianco tries to rob a jewellery store on Christmas Eve, and is caught. He refuses to give up his partners and is given twenty years, despite the DA offering him a deal.

Three years later in Sing Sing prison he learns his wife has committed suicide, leaving his two daughters orphans. The lawyer (who had recruited the crew) had promised to take care of her but no money had been sent. He agrees to testify against them. He’s visited by a former childminder, Nettie, who has seen the kids in their orphanage.

To try and get his daughters back, and to repay his former comrades for failing his family, he rats out his former crew. Due to a complicated series of events they make it appear he’s been brought back to New York over another robbery, and the lawyer dispatches Udo, his tame killer, to the guy who they think is talking. He’s skipped town and Udo kills his mother. Bianco goes out on the town with Udo, and is able to get enough information for the DA to charge him. He gets his daughters back and marries Nettie (?).

Bianco gets a new name and job. But despite testifying, Udo is acquitted, and Bianco fears he will come after him and his family. As a rat, he’s been given the (metaphorical) “kiss of death,” so he determines to protect his family at the risk of his life.

Watch This: For a serviceable 1940s noir film
Don’t Watch This: made in 1947, the timeline seems odd to me, as three years in prison would put them back in 1944 and Bianco ought to have been able to find war work or join the army, why is he (as described) so desperate that he does a robbery; also it’s never more than serviceable, especially the romance