The Death Kiss *** (1932, David Manners, Adrienne Ames, Bela Lugosi) – Classic Movie Review 12,132

Edwin L Marin’s cult 1932 American pre-Code mystery thriller film The Death Kiss reunites three stars from the previous year’s Dracula, David Manners, Bela Lugosi and Edward Van Sloan. 

Director Edwin L Marin’s cult 1932 American pre-Code thriller film The Death Kiss stars David Manners, Adrienne Ames, Bela Lugosi, and Edward Van Sloan. Notably, it features three stars from the previous year’s Dracula (Lugosi, Manners and Van Sloan), and is Marin’s first film as director.

The screenplay is written by Barry Barringer and Gordon Kahn, based on a mystery novel by Madelon St Dennis. The film was produced by KBS Productions at Tiffany Pictures and released by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures, but is now in the public domain.

A 1939 Cameo Theater advert for the 1938 Western film Come On, Rangers and The Death Kiss, in Morning Call, Allentown, PA.

The Death Kiss is an enjoyably convoluted mystery thriller about a movie player killed while filming. Leading man Myles Brent is shot and killed for real during the filming of a death scene of The Death Kiss. David Manners plays a crusading studio writer, Adrienne Ames plays an actress, and Bela Lugosi plays the Tonart studio manager Joseph Steiner (Lugosi) is assigned to handle the situation.

Tonart says it is an accident, but screenwriter Franklyn Drew (Manners) tells homicide detective Lieutenant Sheehan (John Wray) the bullet he digs out of a wall is a .38 caliber but the guns used for the film are .45s.

It is cheaply but enthusiastically made, with eager (maybe over-eager) performances and a reasonable puzzle balancing the muddled script and unconvincing production. You would expect them to be able to give a convincing feeling of a Thirties film set and they do. But the lurches into comedy are not a success. There are some hand-tinted colour effects.

Also in the cast are John Wray, Vince Barnett, Edward Van Sloan, Alexander Carr, Mona Maris, Jimmy Donlin, Lee Moran, Paul Porcasi, Al Hill, Wade Boteler and Edmund Burns.

Bela Lugosi is elevated to the star in Death Kiss in ad from The Film Daily, 1932.

The Death Kiss is directed by Edwin L Marin, runs 71 minutes, is made by KBS Productions, is released by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures, is written by Barry Barringer (screenplay) and Gordon Kahn (screenplay), based on a book by Madelon St Dennis, is shot in black and white by Norbert Brodine, and is scored by Val Burton.

The cast are David Manners as Franklyn Drew, Adrienne Ames as Marcia Lane, Bela Lugosi as Joseph Steiner, John Wray as Lieutenant Sheehan, Vince Barnett as chief of studio police Officer Gulliver, Alexander Carr as studio president Leon A Grossmith, Edward Van Sloan as film director Tom Avery, Harold Minjir as Howell, Barbara Bedford as Script Girl, Al Hill as Assistant Director, Harold Waldridge as bellhop Charlie, Wade Boteler as Sergeant Hilliker, Lee Moran as publicist Todd, Edmund Burns as Miles Brent, Mona Maris as Mrs Agnes Avert, Forrest Taylor as Actor, George O’Hanlon as Bystander, Lester Dorr as Hotel Desk Clerk, Jimmy Donlin, Lee Moran, Paul Porcasi, Al Hill, and Edmund Burns.

The Death Kiss is available for free download at the Internet Archive. The original brief hand-tinted sequences survived and are in this print.

https://archive.org/details/TheDeathKissVideoQualityUpgrade

It is George O’Hanlon’s screen debut (uncredited).

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,132

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