THE KILLING

Marie Windsor and Vince Edwards

THE KILLING (1956). Director, co-screenplay: Stanley Kubrick.

Ex-con Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) has gathered together a motley group to rob a race track: bartender Mike (Joe Sawyer); cop Randy (Ted de Corsia of The Big Combo); sniper Nicky (Timothy Carey); front man Marvin (Jay C. Flippen), muscular Maurice (professional wrestler Kola Kwariani); and track employee George (Elisha Cook, Jr.). But George, who wants to participate so he can buy things for his unfaithful wife, Sherry (Marie Windsor), is unaware that she has taken a lover, Val (Vince Edwards), and when these two learn about the robbery they cook up their own plans ...

Elisha Cook Jr. and Marie Windsor

The Killing is Kubrick's third theatrical film (aside from some documentaries), and it is one of his best. He managed to get excellent performances from the cast, with Windsor being a stand-out along with Elisha Cook, Jr., [House on Haunted Hill] who here is given one of the best roles of his career and runs with it. The other cast members are all on the mark, including Dorothy Adams as Mike's bedridden wife, Ruthie. Colleen Gray gets only a few moments as Johnny's girlfriend, but she's fine, and Carey makes a weird and effective Nicky, who literally shoots horses. Lucien Ballard's cinematography is first-class, and Gerald Fried's musical score adds to the film's taut and suspenseful atmosphere.

Sterling Hayden with Jay C. Flippen 

Jim Thompson's dialogue is occasionally forgettable ("she has a dollar sign where her heart should be"), but there's also an interesting interchange between Marvin and Johnny in which the former tells the latter that he practically thinks of him as a son, but then virtually suggests that they run away together, although the implications of this go unexplored. The film has an ironic, knock-out ending that really delivers a wallop. The movie is generally filmed in long cuts and the tension would have been increased with sharper editing. As good as this is, I would have loved to see what this would have been like had Hitchcock directed it. Another interesting Kubrick film is Eyes Wide Shut.

Verdict: One of the best caper movies ever made. ***1/2. 

CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN

CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN (1958). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

This was one half of a double bill of two films directed by Cahn and written by Jerome Bixby (most famous for the short story "It's a Good Life," adapted on The Twilight Zone in 1961.) The other, much more successful feature was It! The Terror from Beyond Space, but Faceless Man is not without interest. Taking his cue from old Mummy movies, Bixby fashioned a story wherein an encrusted slave, Quintillus Aurelius, buried during the eruption of Vesuvius in Pompeii is unearthed and brought to a museum in the city (he is not actually a mummy but rather is covered with crusted mud). Radiation from the earth and from an X-ray machine bring the slave back to life, and - wouldn't you know it? -- the reincarnation of the woman he once loved (Elaine Edwards) is conveniently nearby, the fiancee of Dr. Paul Mallon (Richard Anderson). Also involved in the action -- what there is of it -- are Mallon's old girlfriend Maria (Adele Mara), her new boyfriend Dr. Ricci (Gar Moore) and her father Dr. Fiorillo (Luis Van Rooten), among others. The picture isn't terrible, but a lot of it isn't that well-staged, and it never quite comes to a full boil. The storyline is interesting, however, the acting sufficient, and Gerald Fried's music adds some excitement now and then.

Verdict: Disappointing but not awful cheapie creepie. **1/2.