A KISS BEFORE DYING Ira Levin

A KISS BEFORE DYING. Ira Levin. 1953. 

A young man at university has great plans for himself, but his plans seem to go awry when his wealthy girlfriend, Dorothy, gets pregnant. An early marriage, before he has a chance to win over his disapproving father-in-law, will undoubtedly mean that "Dorrie" will be cut off without a penny and that just won't do. Unable to convince Dorothy to get an abortion, he gives her some pills which don't work, and then decides all he can do is do away with dear Dorrie. So he concocts a highly sinister scheme ...

A Kiss Before Dying was Ira Levin's first novel and it was so well-received that it led into a long and successful writing career, with such subsequent books as Rosemary's Baby, This Perfect Day, The Stepford Wives, The Boys from Brazil and others. His fiction output was not that extensive -- there were 14 years between Kiss and his 2nd novel Rosemary -- and he actually wrote more plays than novels, his most famous theater work being Deathtrap. (No Time for Sergeants and Critic's Choice were two other well-known plays of Levin's.)

Despite one really dopey moment (would a woman who fears that a man threw another woman off of a roof actually go up to said roof with the very man she thinks is a killer?), A Kiss Before Dying is an excellent suspense novel with a number of terrific plot twists and a great (and surprisingly moving) wind-up. 

Woodward and Wagner in the first film version

The book was filmed twice, but neither does full justice to the novel. Part of the problem is that the twists which work so beautifully in the book can't translate as well to the picture screen. The 1956 version is poorly directed by Gerd Oswald, who films in long, long takes, although there is some tension to the murder sequences and Robert Wagner gives a very good performance as the sociopath. Joanne Woodward as Dorrie, Robert Quarry as another tragic victim, Mary Astor as Wagner's mother, George Macready as Dorrie's father, and Jeffrey Hunter as a radio DA and amateur detective are all good, but Virginia Leith with her odd, flat voice and even flatter delivery is a definite deficit. The 1991 version starred Matt Dillon and Sean Young and was both sexier and more violent than the first version, but I didn't think much of it when it was first released and haven't seen it since. 

Verdict: Book  -- ***1/2.

              1956 movie -- **3/4.