Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I wanted to see a young Joanne Woodward and an older Mary Astor. Both two great actresses. But Joanne does not have a big role, she's killed before the half of the movie. And Mary has a small role, she's the mother of the character played by Robert Wagner. Which never was a favorite of mine, but he's a good actor. Here too he performs well the role of the disturbed criminal. A pleasure to see Virginia Leith, from "The Brain That Would not Die", very sexy in swimsuit beside the pool. Another nice surprise to see George Macready, from "Gilda", in the role of the father. The film it's not great, just watchable.

This is a film very much of its time and it is almost impossible to convey the surprise it would have engendered back then in audiences when it gave us Robert Wagner as a cold-bloodied psychopath, Mr. Wagner having previously been cast, usually to excellent effect, only as admirable and good-looking (very) young men. Reviewers keep comparing its story line to PSYCHO's, but that is pure nonsense. First viewing PSYCHO when it came out, you had no idea that teen semi-idol Anthony Perkins was the killer; the only non-narrative shock element in it was having star Janet Leigh killed off by the end of the film's first half. Seeing Wagner as a psychopath back in 1956 had that same kind of stunning non-narrative shock for viewers, especially since we know he's the bad guy almost from the opening frame. Also, although the story is pretty dark, it is not a noir because noirs almost always depend on an innocent, or at least anti-heroic, male lead who gets into trouble because of, and is often destroyed by, a femme fatale. In this film, there is only one fatal character and it is the male lead. Wagner does it very well, Joanne Woodward is moving as his (first) victim, and even beautiful Virginia Leith comes over pretty well. Jeffrey Hunter as a young, pipe-smoking college professor comes over basically, given his later career identification, as a young pipe-smoking and beardless Jesus Christ, with glasses! But the film is quite good. What keeps it from being truly memorable or even great is that it is based on one of the very great mystery novels of the period by Ira Levin (his first success, and long before ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE STEPFORD WIVES and THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL, it quite literally made his name), and that novel has one of the greatest of all surprises in a mystery novel midway through it, one that could make you drop the book in shock while exclaiming, "Oh, my God!", but it is that effective because you are reading a narrative in which the author can disguise certain plot elements in words, and the shock cannot be duplicated on the screen by virtue of the fact that you can actually SEE the characters going through all their machinations, so that such surprise elements cannot be hidden from the viewer. Too bad, though, because if a writer/director could come up with a way to duplicate Levin's written surprise, he might have a totally brilliant mystery film to offer. In fact, it's nearest relationship to many of Hitchcock's later films is that it is a beautifully filmed daylight thriller. Indeed, most of the worst things in the film happen around noontime, in broad daylight and in glorious Technicolor, and that can be hard to pull off. It is pulled off very well here, indeed. Finally, since I am of the film's period, I can attest to the fact that this movie really does provide a legitimate 1950s atmosphere - visually, ethically and morally. You wouldn't really be all that surprised to see Dwight D. Eisenhower walking through Robert Wagner's college campus!

A Kiss Before Dying, what can I say? Even the title is creepy and suggestive. In this classic 1956 thriller, we learn just how far a greedy, smooth-talking pretty-boy will go to get what he wants. When Bud Corliss, Korean War veteran and college man, learns his lover, Dorie Kingship is expected a child out of wedlock by him, a fatal series of schemes, lies, and murders is set in motion. Why? Because Bud is simply charming sweet, but all-too trusting Dorie in order to get ahead in her father's lucrative copper business by marrying her. Since this happens in the mid-fifties, her pregnancy means the end to his dreams of wealth and prestige. Dorie's cold, strict father would throw them both on their ears. So in order to save his reputation and future, Bud decides to kill Dorie and make it seem like suicide based on shame and guilt over the pregnancy. His plan is clever, simple, and goes perfectly, or so he thinks. He shoves Dorie off the roof of a high building and calmly walks away. However, her sister Ellen has suspicions, and plays amateur detective, indirectly prompting Bud to fake another suicide to silence a witness. Tension builds to a breaking point you'll be shocked by. Is it dated? Yes. Corny? At times. Melodramatic? You had better believe it. But is it worth watching? Extremely. Robert Wagner gives a chilling portrayal of a truly evil young man, and Virginia Leith shines as the relentless bringer of justice for her tragic sister. This is a "Kiss" that will take your breath away.

Would you murder for money? Would you murder to get ahead? Would you marry someone you don't love for a piece of the pie? Robert Wagner is only too eager to do something, anything to get what he wants. What does he want? Mary Astor is his mother, who thinks he's a genius. Joanne Woodward thinks he's sweet and a nice person. Jeffrey Hunter tries to help the police unravel the puzzle that lets victims fall where they will. "A Kiss Before Dying" is a tale of one who thinks he's above suspicion, above the law. This suspenseful and lavishly produced film is a cross between a melodrama and horror, as you're taken on a ride, you can't get off until the end and leaves you wondering, was it all worth it? All we want out of life is security and happiness, but at what price? Forget plausibility and forgive the loopholes. "A Kiss Before Dying" is one movie that you should learn from or else....