“A Kiss before Dying” is a murder mystery/suspense movie starring Robert Wagner and Joanne Woodward as college lovers Bud and Dorie. When Dorie tells Bud she’s pregnant, he sees his dreams for his future go up in smoke. Dorie comes from a rich family, and his plan had been to worm his way into her father’s heart, become the darling of the family, and take over the financial interests of the family mine. But now, with Dorie pregnant, he knows he’ll never get on the father’s good side. (Too bad he didn’t think about that before . . . )
He grew up poor, and he doesn’t like the idea of staying poor. Dorie has gotten in the way of his plans, and she must die. He tries poisoning her, but she doesn’t take the pills he gives her. So he takes her to the top of a tall building and pushes her over. He thinks he’s literally gotten away with murder, until her sister Ellen (Virginia Leith) decides to investigate. Ellen doesn’t believe her sister would have killed herself, and she contests the decision the police have made to close the case. She appeals to handsome police officer Gordon Grant (Jeffrey Hunter) and he agrees that some further investigation is warranted, but she heads out on her own instead of waiting for him, tracking down another young man Dorie had dated.
That young man is framed for Dorie’s murder, and then killed by Bud. As his plan goes forward, we then see him become romantically involved with Ellen, still wanting to get his hands on that mine, and if one daughter won’t get him what he wants, he’ll go for the other. Ellen figures it out, however, and stupidly tells him so while they’re out in the middle of nowhere, and nearly doesn’t make it out alive.
This movie was interesting, as we tried to figure out just what Bud was up to. But both of the girls were highly annoying – I was about ready to kill Dorie myself, but Bud beat me to it. I think if the acting had been better, this movie would go up a couple notches in my estimation. As it stands, it’s entertaining but still lacks that spark that grabs you and doesn’t let you go.
This film was not rated.
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