Someday, perhaps, one of the feminist critics who now dominate academic film studies will do an in-depth analysis of the romantic thriller, that strange and perennially successful genre that seems to rest on women`s desire to imagine their husbands and lovers as psychopathic killers.
It`s a theme that knew its first burst of popularity in the `40s, with George Cukor`s ”Gaslight” and Alfred Hitchcock`s ”Suspicion” setting the style; returned again in the late 1950s, for such films as ”Midnight Lace”
and ”Julie”; and steams on at full throttle today, still propelled by the 1985 success of ”The Jagged Edge.”
If that academic study ever does get written, James Dearden`s ”A Kiss Before Dying” will probably figure in it only as a footnote to the 1956 original, which-as directed by the now-forgotten Gerd Oswald-was one of the finest entries in the `50s cycle.
The new version is plodding, literal and completely lacking in the erotic tension that seems to be essential to the genre. Not much passes between Matt Dillon and Sean Young that could be defined as frisson-there is no ambiguity, no risk, no charge.
Based on a novel by Ira Levin (”Rosemary`s Baby”), ”A Kiss Before Dying” remains a quintessential `50s study of desperate social climbing and success at any price.
Jonathan Corliss (Dillon, in the role originated by Robert Wagner) is a refugee from a lower-middle-class existence in a depressed Pennsylvania mining town. For reasons the story effectively keeps in suspense, he is engaged in scheming his way into the wealthy Carlsson family, a copper dynasty headed by a terrifying patriarch (an Olympian Max von Sydow).
As the story opens, Jonathan is found pitching his fiance, Dorothy Carlsson (Young) from the roof of the Philadelphia city hall. Something has gone wrong with their relationship, and now, with a new name and a borrowed identity, he sets out for a second try-he`ll marry Dorothy`s twin sister Ellen (Young with shorter, darker hair) instead.
Much of the appeal of the form lies in the degree of suspense the director can sustain around the question of the male`s true character-is he a maniac, or just a typically distant American husband? Dearden, directing from his own screenplay adaptation, has thrown away this prime asset barely before the credits have ended.
There can be no ambiguity when all of the character`s killings are depicted in overexplicit detail (we even see him carving up the body of one witness in a hotel bathroom). Nor is Dearden skilled enough as a filmmaker to lead us to share Ellen`s point of view-her trust giving way to suspicion and fear. Everything is blunt and obvious from the beginning, and the movie has little to do but tick off its obligatory plot points-Ellen`s growing doubts, Jonathan`s attempts to put her off the trail, and so on and predictably on.
Perhaps some of the movie`s airlessness is due to the fact that, though the story is set entirely in America, most of the filming was done on soundstages in Britain. But mainly, it seems to be Dearden`s fault for being unable to move away from story considerations and generate an independent interest in his characters. These people are what they do, and nothing more.
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(Perhaps he`s overcompensating for the failure of his first film,
”Pascali`s Island”-a movie composed almost entirely of mood and character.)
It`s disappointing, too, to see Dillon retreating into his pretty-boy image after his astonishingly funny and mature work in ”Drugstore Cowboy.”
Once again, he has become a pinup boy.
Though the film makes no demands on her acting ability, Sean Young`s fragile beauty and huge, vulnerable eyes are enough to command an immediate sympathy-a quality that will probably keep her employed in movies like this for years to come.
The performing honors in this ”Kiss,” however, belong to Diane Ladd, whose scrupulously naturalistic performance as Jonathan`s long-suffering mother seems meant as atonement for the wild excess of her raving mom in
”Wild at Heart.” All is forgiven.
”A KISS BEFORE DYING”
(STAR)(STAR)
Directed and written by James Dearden; photographed by Mike Southon; edited by Michael Bradsell; production designed by Jim Clay; music by Howard Shore;
produced by Robert Lawrence. A Universal Pictures release; opens April 26 at the Burnham Plaza, 900 North Michigan, Webster Place and outlying theaters. Running time: 1:33. MPAA rating: R. Violence, adult situations.
THE CAST
Jonathan Corliss………………………………………Matt Dillon
Ellen/Dorothy Carlsson………………………………….Sean Young
Thor Carlsson……………………………………….Max von Sydow
Mrs. Corliss…………………………………………..Diane Ladd
Dan Corelli…………………………………………..James Russo