Angel Foam goes down like liquid gold, and it comes up like slow dynamite...for the man of taste. - Kelly
The Film
Have you ever kissed someone and felt like something was really off? Something cold and unfeeling; as if they're a sociopath looking to steal your soul. Sam Fuller's 1964 B-movie classic (which I think fits nicely into the film noir category) leaves you with that awful dirty feeling. The Naked Kiss blows apart the idyllic American fantasy of the sleepy little suburban town where everyone just minds their own business. Grantville is pretty normal looking on the surface; until the rock-hard prostitute from the big city looking for redemption shows up.
The always elegant Constance Towers (Shock Corridor) stars as "Kelly" in this doozy from the always controversial Samuel Fuller. While not as tightly written as Shock Corridor, the film still has its moments where the evil that lurks in the shadows of quaint suburban life is exposed. You may want to let the dog try your coffee first, because who knows what that woman smiling at you in line slipped into it while you were fumbling for your change.
Towers does an admirable job of portraying a woman looking to escape her past; although her switch from a prostitute to a nurse caring for handicapped children is a bit of a stretch. Her path to inner peace, however, is not without its land mines. Standing in her way are two very (seemingly) different men. One is a hard-nosed police captain who makes a play for her, and the other is the town's uber rich maven named "Grant" (hence the name of the town) who also wants her. Neither man has righteous motives and the collision is pretty horrible when it occurs. It is not in the cards for Kelly to find her happy place.
Fuller enjoyed being a controversial director; especially because he could touch on themes that other directors of the period were petrified to go near. From that perspective, all of his B-movie classics from the period are examples of pulp fiction at its best. Fuller, in a moment where he borrows from Hitchcock, has Shock Corridor on the marquee at the local movie theater. It's not meant to be subtle and it works. The Naked Kiss is a good film, but not a great one in comparison to noir masterpieces like Double Indemnity and The Asphalt Jungle. Constance Towers certainly holds her own in the film, but she's no Barbara Stanwyck or Jean Hagen. She does, to her credit, have one of the best entrances in motion picture history. Utterly hard and unforgettable.
The Picture
The Sound
As I mentioned in my review of Shock Corridor, Criterion Collection does not reinvent the wheel when it comes to a film's soundtrack. If you are looking for a remixed 5.1 channel surround version, you'll be waiting for the rest of your life. The monaural track has been cleaned up and the 24-bit recording sounds clear and punchy making the dialog far more intelligible. That's all there is. Nothing more. Typical Criterion.
The Extras
Criterion hasn't packed a lot of goodies on to this Blu-ray transfer, but what you get is quite interesting. Constance Towers looks terrific in a new interview with film historian and filmmaker Charles Dennis; she's a wealth of information about the film, her co-stars, and director Samuel Fuller.
The extra material also includes excerpts from a 1983 episode of The South Bank Show which is dedicated to Samuel Fuller. There are also two interviews with Fuller (from 1967 and 1987) conducted on French television which are extremely informative. The original theatrical trailer has also been included.
Criterion issues their Blu-ray restorations with some first-rate booklets and The Naked Kiss packaging includes illustrations by cartoonist Daniel Clowes, an essay by critic/poet Robert Polito, and excerpts from Samuel Fullers' autobiography, A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking.
Final Thoughts
If you have ever lived in a small town, you will certainly appreciate the sentiment behind Naked Kiss. Lurking behind all of the soccer games, church picnics, and PTA meetings are your neighbors. Some are decent g-d fearing folk. Others have pasts that they would rather not discuss. Sam Fuller has made a terrific film that deals with that other "stuff" that makes you so uncomfortable. Like that woman in the line making eyes at your teenaged son. A very worthwhile addition to your film collection.
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