Anton Diffring’s perverse cosmopolitan charm carries this batty Hammer film about a belle époque predator who salvages the glands of his victims to preserve himself far beyond an ordinary lifespan. A perfect companion to Circus of Horrors, also starring Diffring.
Both A Kiss Before Dying (KBD) and The Grifters are examples of what William Marling has called the American roman noir. Noir in this instance echoes another genre, film noir, and refers to a whole repertoire of narrative elements including settings, characters, plot devices, and diction. More generally it signifies a degraded moral condition and a pessimistic, even deterministic, view of the world. The noir universe is one where dark impulses drive action and appearances are often deceptive. Though romans noir often play out in the demimonde— cheap bars, casinos, shabby boardinghouses, etc.– moral darkness also pervades sun-struck suburban streets and opulent penthouses.
For collective ownership of the means of production:
The Auteurs, “Lenny Valentino”. Luke Haines is glam Chelsea Manning.
Bill Duke directed this adaptation of Chester Himes’s 1958 crime novel A Rage in Harlem.
Danny Aiello. 1933-2019.
After appearing in the video for Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” Danny recorded a response song titled “Papa wants the Best for You.”
