Kiss of Death (1947)
This movie can be broken down into two parts: the acting and the plot. The former is first rate and the latter is utterly predictable. Victor Mature plays a career stick up man who gets nabbed in a jewelry heist and refuses to snitch on his accomplices. He goes to prison with a promise from the gang’s lawyer that his family will be provided for. It never happens; his wife commits suicide. He then has a change of heart and agrees to start ratting out his old friends, one of whom is Richard Widmark, a former inmate now free. The rest of the movie centers around the conflict between Widmark and Mature.
The plot is mundane: despair, redemption, disappointment, and finally happiness (after the bad guys are all dead or in jail). For emotional overkill, we have the image of Mature’s two children, cherubic and innocent, and his former friend and now wife acting like June Cleaver. The lack of realism here is almost laughable: a career thief who has been in and out of state prison having two lovable children and an adoring wife and living in a modest brick house is a little over the top as they say.
But the movie has a lot to recommend it. For purists, there are some classic noir features: the imagery is top notch, with the requisite shadows, music, and mood. And, oh yes, the clothes! At least crooks back then did their deeds in style. Every crime is committed in a tailor made suit. The main attraction, though, is the acting of Widmark and Mature. That alone take this film from zero stars to three. The only noir feature missing is an evil woman to blame for everything that goes wrong.