clore

Here's something interesting that I found on the web about the film: {font:Arial}According to 1953 HR news items, Twentieth Century-Fox purchased the story rights and considered casting their contract player Robert Wagner in the lead. A December 1954 item indicates that Robert Parrish was under consideration by Crown Productions, Inc. to direct the film for producers Robert Goldstein and Robert L. Jacks. Martin Miner was initially cast in the role of "Dwight Powell," but due to schedule changes, Milner was forced to leave the film. A Kiss Before Dying marked the directorial debut of Gerd Oswald.{font} I take it that "HR" refers to Hollywood Reporter. So, it's possible that Fox did make the film - the producer Robert L. Jacks was working for them at the time as he was Zanuck's son-in-law - and perhaps they decided that it wasn't something to be proud of, so they sold it to UA. That would also explain four Fox players in the cast. In addition, it does look like a Fox film of the period, with the insistence on the Cinemascope being emphasized, to the point that in many interior shots, conversing characters are on opposite sides of the screen.

As I said somewhere else in this forum today, I come here to relax and free-form conversation is one of the best ways I have to do so. Heck, I didn't expect a thread on this movie to get so many responses, so I'm pleased with whatever results.

I'm sure that he was, but it gave me a chance to get my thoughts down on the subject anyway. I was in a thread on another board the other day, and the OP concerned Victor McLaglen, but someone referred to Wallace Beery as a similar type of character star and I agreed with that person's assessment. The OP came back all sorts of foul-mouthed which was off course "beeped" by the board, but hey, that sort of thing happens. If I put up a thread swearing allegiance to Boris Karloff, I just know that someone will come along and say he prefers Bela Lugosi. That's fine by me, if I wanted agreement I would talk to myself.

Some people are so **** retentive about strict adherence to the subject matter. That doesn't really happen in real life when you get three or more people together, so why should it happen here on a message board? Conversations sway and one should sway with them. We're still talking films anyway, and all of this is prompted by a movie aired on TCM last night. So, at least they know that we were all watching and paying attention.

We're discussing further career marks of people who were in the cast of the subject of the OP. Besides, I don't see why the mods should get upset with the slight diversion if I'm not... After all, I'm the one who put up the OP.

Another "one big happy family" reference. Robert Quarry's two COUNT YORGA films were produced by Michael Macready, son of George who was of course also in A KISS BEFORE DYING. George narrates the first Yorga film and appears in the second (but not looking too healthy). It's been a while since I've seen the DR. PHIBES sequel which has Price and Quarry and the off-stage rivalry is quite evident on screen. AIP had been toying with the idea of Quarry replacing Price as their top horror guy and that was all that Price needed to hear. Around the web are various anecdotes: "There was a lot of hostility between [Vincent Price|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001637/] and [Robert Quarry|http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0067146/], particularly when Price discovered that AIP was planning to replace him with Quarry as their major horror film star. At one point, when Price discovered Quarry singing opera, Quarry said "I'll bet you didn't know I could sing did you?" and Price responded "well I knew you weren't a f---ing actor!" Quarry on Price: "I always tried to play villains like the heroes. Vincent Price was always playing boogieman things, overdoing stuff, and I was like, "Jesus, Vincent, for once just play it straight." I mean, I played Count Yorga straight, I played "Deathmaster" straight. But Vincent's mannerisms took him over. As an actor you should never allow that to happen. The best villains are the ones who are both protagonist and antagonist."

It's only a movie as Hitchcock would say, but if police questioned the left handed bullet hole, then they might have asked if anyone saw someone else hanging around just before the murder. Then whoever tipped off Wagner to Quarry's room could have spoken up. I'd still watch it again, maybe just to insult the investigation.

Considering that Dwight was played by Robert Quarry who played Count Yorga, maybe Wagner should have put a stake through his heart. I'm surprised that members of the Arizona State Police didn't picket the film as it sure showed them to be ineffective. How could they overlook a left-handed suicide (among other things)? I know, because the screenwriter did also. Oswald must have liked Quarry as the actor's next two movies - almost a decade apart - were helmed by Oswald. Then Quarry had an unbilled bit in WINNING in which Wagner had third billing. One big happy family as Oswald did a few episodes of IT TAKES A THIEF.

Yes, we saw him there but he must have broken every speed record in getting back to the dorm, and then rushing to the room (how did he know which one?) and then typing the note. Again, as I said earlier, watching something such as this uninterrupted, as long as it moves fast enough, one doesn't have time to ponder whether the pieces fit. Thus, it is involving while you're watching it, which is what a film should do. Unlike say TRENT'S LAST CASE which moved at a glacier's rate and I really wasn't too concerned about who-killed the husband, it was the killing of my time which concerned me.

I might comment if this ever happens, but as with the Programmer's Challenge, it's too much like work for me to participate seriously. I did research/marketing and programming for TV stations for thirty years and I would frequent message boards toward the end just to have some fun on the subject. This is what I did to relax, something which I try to dedicate the rest of my life to now that I'm not working anymore. I used to have to analyze shows and concepts, it got to the point where I could not enjoy TV shows without wanting to dissect them.

I know Oswald mostly from his work on the original OUTER LIMITS. Some of my favorite episodes such as "O.B.I.T." and "Soldier" were his. He also helmed the Bette Davis / Ernest Borgnine film BUNNY O'HARE of which the less said the better. TCM has aired his cult film SCREAMING MIMI which is quite a good serial killer film despite its exploitation film origins. Anita Ekberg is in there as well as in PARIS HOLIDAY which is the one Bob Hope feature that I need to finish my list.

By the way, Sean Young did play twins in the remake, a feat that got her two Razzie Awards for worst actress and worst supporting actress. May be that is what put her over the edge. I saw it twenty years ago, but can't even remember if I watched it all the way through. I seem to recall it emulating VERTIGO more than the original film and maybe that's why my subconscious fails to provide much more than knowing that I tried to watch it.

The synopsis states it this way "When two crooked financiers ruin XXXXXX's father and cause the suicide of his estranged wife, XXXXXX plans the perfect crime as his revenge." That really wasn't the way the story unfolds, it is what we are given at the end as his motivation. Up until then, we're not supposed to know who is the guilty party. Now granted, some may be able to figure it out, but the way it was written makes it appear as if we're in on the plan from the git. It may or may not spoil the enjoyment of a first-time viewer, but it certainly does distort the plot line.

According to the IMDb, there were numerous Arizona locations used: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049414/locations

Jessica Fletcher killed all those people, and used her powers as a mystery writer to get all those other people to confess. I thought that it was her nephew Grady. I wouldn't invite either of those two anywhere. I stopped watching somewhere toward the end of the second season, it was just all too much to take.

I thought the whole portion with the Dwight Powell character made no sense. How was Robert Wagner going to know where he was going to meet Ellen? And how was Wagner able to get back to the dorm room before them? That's what I mean. In thinking about it afterward, that was one of the things that occurred to me many years ago when i first saw it. That and the fact that more than a few must have spotted Wagner and Woodward together - how did he think that no one would remember? But that I guess could be part of his insanity. Did you know that in the book, he bumped off two sisters? You would think that the third one he is pursuing would have been chained to the house. I liked Jeffrey Hunter smoking his pipe. Several times while talking to Virginia Leith, he turned it sideways and even upside-down over her lap and no ashes fell out. Another thing just struck me - why did he shoot Dwight in the left side of his head? Was Dwight supposed to be left-handed?

I've never seen it before in scope or uninterrupted. It plays a lot better that way, one doesn't have time to think about it during the commercials. It's less far-fetched this way. Funny, it's been so long since i've seen it - with that cast of four 20th Century-Fox players, I had it in my head that it was a Fox film. Turns out that it was a UA release, but now there's a Sony ID at the end of it.

Thanks...but I have to admit that it started at 11:45pm out here in the Arizona time zone. I used to represent a TV station out there in Phoenix, it was then known as KOOL, the CBS affiliate. They have since changed the call letters. I was doing research and marleting for them and it took me a while to get used to the fact that they were three hours behind my time for half of the year and two hours behind the other half. I'd be writing promo pieces for shows six to nine months down the road so it was easy to lose one's sense of time.

BUT gotta tell ya that I pretty much had figured out the ending of *The Murder Man* about half way through the picture the other night. Hey, that's pretty good. Usually I'm good at that sort of thing, but perhaps I just didn't expect it in a 1935 MGM programmer. I was more elated about seeing something that I first read about over 40 years ago and have just only now finally caught up to. You were in good mental shape for a film that started at 245am!

I am going back over 30 years to that Peanuts strip. There wasn't any internet then, no forums so unless someone was reading a book or perhaps a magazine such as "Cahiers" was one likely to find a reference to CITIZEN KANE and "Rosebud." Granted, there is a whole gteneration now that may be aware of certain spoilers if only owing to the parodies of them on shows such as THE SIMPSONS which had probably revealed more than any other show to which I've been exposed. My younger son knew of the Darth Vader thing and the Soylent Green revelation long before he ever saw the films. As he grew older, he got used to certain dramatic devices and he realized less than 30 minutes into THE SIXTH SENSE exactly what the outcome was going to be. I knew before the opening credits rolled. No brag, it's just like anyone familiar with MURDER, SHE WROTE after a dozen episodes could find that innocuous line of dialogue early on that would be a key factor in the outcome later. Still, I would expect on a site such as this that a submitted article would be formatted so as to at least warn someone that there is a spoiler below. In the case of THE MURDER MAN, the author distorted the whole plot line anyway. What was depicted on screen is not as he described. If the secret is revealed in the last few minutes, then saying that the plot concerns so-and-so devising a plot to kill one man and incriminate another as if we're all onto it from the beginning, is totally bogus.

These "inspectors" -- who are they? What do they do? I have a co-op and am not familiar with them. Sounds very strange, like something out of the X-Files. They come to make sure that you don't have a washing machine - not allowed to have one. They also check to make sure that you don't have any air conditioners that you aren't already paying a premium for each month. They also check the smoke alarm and gas detectors and to make sure that you have carpeting in all rooms except the kitchen and bathroom.

I like Lon Chaney, but I only watched a couple of films. I've seen most of those scheduled yesterday and I had too much to do besides sitting in front of the TV no matter how much I love Lon Chaney. The co-op inspectors are coming this week for their annual inspection and I've not given the place a thorough going over since the last time they came. Most of the time, I can do odd chores with the TV on in the background as I've seen so many titles that I only turn my head when there is a particular scene going on. One can't do that with a silent film, which is why I find them best for me in the overnight hours - when I'm trying to be quieter for the downstairs neighbors anyway. But heck, it's only one day and Chaney deserves a day. I'm just surprised that they didn't pick August 26 as it's the anniversary of his death. And I would not have had to worry about the inspectors.

As for the "stagey" aspect of the film, it's got nothing on the original FRONT PAGE, which was barely "opened up" at all. True, but for me, it's a lot more forgivable given its age. Milestone showed in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT that he was quite capable of moving the camera, and does so again here, just that owing to the confined setting, there aren't any panoramas. For its vintage though, the camera is relatively fluid. For what one can discern from the awful soundtrack, Hawks wasn't quite the first to use rapid-fire, overlapping dialogue. He may have emphasized it, but that surely had to be a lot easier to execute a decade later. Of course, it would be a lot more pleasurable to watch this version if one could find a decent print. I've never seen one on air, on tape or on disc. To me this is one of the most needed restorations out there. I've seen a taped version of the play which coincided with a Broadway revival that I saw. It starred Robert Ryan as Walter Burns and he just wasn't up to the part though he did try. George Grizzard was pretty good as Hildy but I thought that Bert Convy on stage was better. However, the recorded version looks as if it was shot in an afternoon and we may be fortunate that no known copy seems to exist. I'd love to read that you have a great 35mm copy of the 1931 film. Even if I never will see it, I'd just love to know that one exists.

All I need to see is that Gaylord Carter is doing the soundtrack for a silent film and I turn the sound off. His redundant organ scores have ruined a few movies for me until I remembered that I have a mute button. But hey, some people are into that but I prefer an orchestral score in most cases. I do have to admit though that the Vivek Maddala score for ACE OF HEARTS annoyed me, it kept reminding me of ONE STEP BEYOND.

She can be very good, and she can be very funny. It's just a personal thing, I guess. I can't quite define it either, there's a sort of self-righteousness about her - more than the story may demand I guess. Perhaps I'm out of my Continental mind though. But overall, I do like her as she can do comedy, drama and a musical with equal ability. She also had great genes and looked much younger than her years.