Talk:Kiss of Death (1947 film)

Production
The film's working titles were Stoolpigeon and Blind Date. According to the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department, located at the University of California, studio production chief Darryl F. Zanuck changed the title from Stoolpigeon, the name of Eleazar Lipsky's original story, to Blind Date, then retitled it Kiss of Death after stumbling upon a newspaper article by famed columnist, Hedda Hopper, referring to an event in a politician's life as "the kiss of death." Lipsky, who submitted his story under the name "Lawrence L. Blaine," was a former New York assistant district attorney.

Contemporary news items note that among the New York City locations used in both the exterior and interior shooting were The Tombs, the Bronx County jail, the downtown Criminal Courts Building, the Louisa M. Alcott house on Sullivan Street, the Chrysler Building and the Hotel Marguery. Other locations included Sing Sing Prison and Astoria, NY, and Fort Lee, NJ. A Life magazine article about the film noted that when the company filmed inside Sing Sing, all rooms and cell blocks had to be cleared out before any shots were taken because of a law that prohibited the photographing of real convicts. Voice-over narration, spoken by Coleen Gray as the character "Nettie," opens the story and is heard intermittently throughout the film.

In January 1947, the Los Angeles Times announced that James Cagney was being considered for the film's lead.

Controversy
Initial drafts of the film's screenplay was unsurprisingly rejected by then strict Production Code Administration. In a late January 1947 letter to Twentieth Century-Fox public relations head Jason S. Joy, Production Code Administration director Joseph I. Breen stated that the "basic story seems to violate the provisions of the Production Code by appearing to present the processes of law and order and the administration of justice in such a light as to cast discredit on the effectiveness of the court system." An internal memo initiated Breen's distaste of the scripts depiction of law enforcement agencies as "utterly futile in their efforts to bring criminals to justice without the aid of stool pigeons." Breen also objected to references to "Tommy Udo's" drug use and the inclusion of a "dope den" in the film. Breen later wrote back to Joy saying that because of the "assurances to us that this picture will be made with the full cooperation of New York law enforcement authorities, our original concern...is quite fully alleviated." Although Breen reiterated his objections to the drug references, the film does depict Udo as a drug user. Some state censor boards demanded that the scene in which Udo pushes "Ma Rizzo" down the stairs be eliminated.

An October, 1948 The New York Times item stated that independent movie theater owners in London removed Ben Hecht's screenwriting credit from prints of Kiss of Death because of his "anti-British attitudes," including statements made in a published advertisement. The same owners also voted to ban future Hecht films from their theaters. Such an exclusion would have constituted a breach of contract with Hecht and the Screen Writer's Guild.

Moved by: Luigibob (talk) 05:10, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Would anyone object if I moved the above back to the article? I realize that it is unreferenced, as are many if not most film articles, but it is noncontroversial and is very interesting. Unless there is a problem with the veracity of this content, I'd like to put it back. Stetsonharry (talk) 22:09, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

The drug stuff isn’t in the version I just saw on TV. Neither was “rape” mentioned. The cut I saw is probably the standard one now. Suggest the above storyline be signposted as now deleted scenes. Timmytimtimmy (talk) 21:17, 27 October 2021 (UTC)

not just a story
Lipsky wrote a novel titeled The Kiss of Death, which appeared as an American Penguin book. I believe it was published around 1941, then again it DID seem to have a Victor Mature=ish cover illustration... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.73.75.111 (talk) 05:37, 9 September 2009 (UTC)


 * There may have been a novelization, but it would have been 1947. I understand that Lipsky wrote a treatment, not a novel. I forget where I read that, possibly TCM.com. The screen credits say distinctly that it was based on a "story," which in those days meant what we today would call a "treatment." If it was a published story, the screen credit would say so, "story in the Saturday Evening Post" or whatever. If it was based on a novel or play it would say so. Stetsonharry (talk) 18:44, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Wheelchair-bound vs wheelchair-using
Prior revisions making this change were reverted (history) as "weasel words", when in fact it is preferred usage among people with disabilities; "wheelchair-bound" is considered derogatory. See List of disability-related terms with negative connotations before reverting this change again. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rahaeli (talk • contribs) 13:22, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Allmovie
Reference available for citing in the article body. Erik (talk) 20:05, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
 * ... plot synopsis, review, cast, production credits, awards

Major Issues: Citation and Expansion
This article is poorly developed and sourced, with major pieces of information remaining unsourced or poorly written. These pieces either need to be rewritten or given proper citations. Some sections of the article, which include production, and reception section are incomplete and need to be expanded in more detail with the latter needing more reviews from notable critics. The article is also missing important information on the film's theatrical and home media releases, there is no information on the film's home media releases and it needs to be added to the article. This article needs a lot of work done to it will all the above mentioned issues needing to be fixed in order for this article to meet Wikipiedia's guidelines and standards of a well developed and properly sourced article.
 * The point you want more reviews and further information does not justify an "incomplete tag". You say the article misses "important information" about the release, I would be curious to know which these important informations are, it would help the improvements. And about the "information on the film's home media releases" they are not really that important. Also remember to sign your posts. Cavarrone 09:44, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

There is also information in this article that is unsourced and either needs to be removed or given proper citations. --Paleface Jack (talk) 18:19, 10 September 2017 (UTC)

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