NYC Noir Double Feature: Something Wild and Killer's Kiss

For my last NYC Noir double feature before I close up with a review for "The French Connection" next week, I choose a double bill featuring too rarely shown films. The first actually had a week long release at the tail end of last year at IFC Center, but the other was something very special that I knew should be seen on the big screen.

Something Wild (1961) **1/2
112 Minutes
Directed by Jack Garfein

"Something Wild" is a bit more strong than the others films I've seen at this festival-with the exception of "Rosemary's Baby,"-but it was weird in a negative way taking what could have been a decent character study and turning it into something too unbelievable and too over the top. Starring a beautiful Carroll Baker, she plays Mary Ann, a young student in New York City who is raped on her way home one night. She returns home the next day to her stepfather and her over-domineering mother, but soon she moves out of the house and quits school to work at the five and dime. She contemplates killing herself, and just as she is about to throw herself into the river, she is saved by a mysterious man who ends up locking her inside of his house and not letting her go until she agrees to marry him.

For the first hour I could say that there was some promise here. It was good to watch Baker walk around New York City, harrowed and violated. I was hoping it would lead to something more. Her inner struggle would be represented in a realistic and symbolic way. But the second act-which largely takes place in the man-Mike's-basement apartment, is uninteresting and consists of uninspired dialogue like "Let me out," and "No." If that was the best that writer/director Jack Garfein could come up with as the climatic scenes of his films, I pity him, even though I don't know what happened in the original novel "Mary Ann", written by Alex Karmel. I could see why its ended on the note that it did-that Mike and Mary Ann needed each other-that life just was not what it would have been for Mary Ann if the incident did not happen. It does not condone the rape or justify it in any way, but it just morals up that "This is what happened, and this is what came of it." But what did come of it, and how it was portrayed on the scene, was not interesting, and they forced me to accept too much, more than I was able too. Baker is good, and there are some fun cameos by Jean Stapleton, and a young Doris Roberts that was hard to spot, in her film debut. This is merely a decent film that I was taken out of many times.

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Killer's Kiss (1955) ***1/2
67 Minutes
Directed by Stanley Kubrick

This next film really does pull you in after the disappointing "Something Wild," and its wonder not many people have heard of it because its by one of the greatest directors who ever lived. Stanley Kubrick's second actual film is "Killer's Kiss," a strong film noir with a weak story, but photographed incredibly. Seeing this on the big screen was a treat. I wanted to eat up every image. Jamie Smith plays Davy Gordon, a New York City boxer that sees the girl next door being attacked by dance club owner Vincent Rapallo (played by Frank Silvera, who does a great job seeming hate able here). He falls in love with the girl-Gloria-and wants to run away with her, but is being pursued by the evil Rapallo, who will making sure that she doesn't get away, or at least doesn't end up with another man.

The story is weak and didn't do much for me, but never lags as the film is only just over an hour. The acting is fine, there are those classic noir lines. The first line was something along the lines of "It's crazy how you can get yourself in a mess sometimes . . ." and the middle had my personal favorite "Like the man said, "Can happiness buy money?" " But what to see here is Kubrick's great photography. The best scenes are the ones that really go out there, like the climax which takes place in a mannequin factory, but even the simple shots-walking down the street, running on the rooftop-becomes a thing of beauty. There was not one shot here that did not have tons of effort put into it. People discuss "A Clockwork Orange" or "2001" as if they were his only films, but I have seen almost all of his early stuff, and somewhat find it slightly better. "Killer's Kiss" should be viewed just as much as "Clockwork Orange." It is not the genius of his later works, but you could spot what we know is going to come a few years later.

For more information on the NYC Noir Festival, which ends very soon, visit the Film Forum Website!