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During filming of The Death Kiss, a film directed by Tom Avery
(Edward Van Sloan), leading man Brent (Edward Burns) is killed, literally
while filming a scene, and at first it's believed it was a propgun used in
that particular scene, but eventually it's found out that the actual bun
was hidden in one of the spotlights - and immediate suspicion falls on
Chalmers (Alan Roscoe), a former electrician at the studio who was fired
though on Brent's request for drinking on the job, but rehired as an extra
at leading lady Marcia's (Adrienne Ames) request, who is also the ex-wife
of Brent.
Then though Chalmers is found dead, and everything points at suicide,
so much so that investigating cop Sheehan (John Wray) wants to call it a
closed case - but writer and amateur detective Frank (David Manners), the
current boyfriend of Marcia, finds evidence that suggests otherwise (and
actually proves the supposed suicide was actually murder) ... which
unfortunately makes Marcia the main suspect, so much so that she is
actually arrested.
But while the police are already celebrating the case's solution, Frank
investigates further and eventually finds letters of the dead man's many
mistresses and the hotel he used to bring them to - where he learns about
a rowe Brent had with another guest, possibly his mistress's husband.
Finally, Marcia is granted a one day leave from prison to film the last
scenes of The Death Kiss, when Frank gathers final conclusive
evidence against the real murderer - which eventually leads to an
extensive shoot-out up on the scaffolding of the studio which ends in the
murderer falling to his death ... and it turns out to be none other than
director Tom Avery himself, whose wife (Mona Maris) had an affair with
Brent.
Bela Lugosi can be seen in a red herring role as the production
manager, Vince Barnett plays the comic relief as studio cop and Frank's
right hand man, and Alexander Carr gives an amusing performance as
uneducated studio boss whose grasp of the English language isn't always
too sure.
First of all, the film The Death Kiss has nothing to do with the
novel of the same name by Madelon St.Dennis it claims to be based on even
in the credits, second of all, the film is an obvious attempt to cash in
on previous year's successful Dracula,
as is suggested by The Death Kiss's suggestive title, the inclusion
of three of Dracula's leads
(Lugosi, Manners, Van Sloan) and even its original poster motive (not
pictured here).
Having gotten these two things out of the way, I have to admit that The
Death Kiss is quite an enjoyable film, a rather light-footed but never
silly murder mystery that draws plenty of its charm from subtle Hollywood
in-jokes (first and foremost Alexander Carr as uneducated studio boss) and
an entertaining insight into the process of filmmaking as such, which is
somehow achieved in the course of the main plot (the murder mystery as
such) and thus is not in the least distracting.
Sure, the film might not be a masterpiece, but it's a nice example of
early sound low budget murder mystery that has stood the test of time
remarkably well.
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