The tiger of New York
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The tiger of New York |
| Original title | Killer's Kiss |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1955 |
| length | 67 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Stanley Kubrick |
| script |
Stanley Kubrick , Howard Sackler |
| production |
Stanley Kubrick , Moris Bousel for Minotaur Productions |
| music | Gerald Fried |
| camera | Stanley Kubrick |
| cut | Stanley Kubrick |
| occupation | |
| |
The Tiger of New York (original title: Killer's Kiss ) is a film noir from 1955. Directed by 26-year-old Stanley Kubrick . The low-budget production was Kubrick's second full-length feature film. The film can be seen as a mixture of crime and romance films, Kubrick mixed elements of film noir and melodrama.
action
The action begins at a train station in New York City : Davey Gordon talks to himself and wonders how he could have gotten into this trouble. Then he remembers a few days back. Davey Gordon is an unsuccessful boxer who has had most of his career behind him. He has just lost a fight and his uncle in Seattle calls him and tells him to spend some time with him and his aunt. Davey lives in a modest apartment in New York. Opposite is the beautiful Gloria, who works as a dancer in a shabby dance club. The club is owned by Vincent, an aging gangster. The latter desires and pressures Gloria, who rejects him. Vincent can't stand the rejection. When Gloria and Davey fall in love, she decides to quit and leave town. Vincent has Davey's manager murdered - a mistake because Davey should have died. Vincent then has Gloria kidnapped. In an attempt to free her, Davey engages in a fatal duel with Vincent in a mannequin factory . During the subsequent police interrogation, Davey and Gloria are separated. Davey will not be charged as he acted in self-defense. Sadly, Davey decides to leave town on his own and waits for his train at the station - the opening scene of the film. Shortly before departure, Gloria appears and both kiss and hug.
To production
Originally titled Kiss Me - Kill Me , Kubrick produced The Tiger of New York for about $ 40,000 raised by friends and relatives. Kubrick was inspired by the " Pulp " thrillers by Mickey Spillane and Jim Thompson - with whom he later worked. The film was shot almost exclusively on the streets of New York. Some of the takes at the beginning of the film, showing the preparations for Davey's boxing match, come from Kubrick's short documentary film Day of the Fight .
The shooting "on location" gave the crime thriller the appearance of authenticity. Kubrick himself did not attach any deeper meaning to this:
“The film doesn't give a very in-depth look at New York. It's quite simply the standard set for a New York crime film. This is a copied documentary. "
Davy's socks "inexplicably" change their appearance during a chase. Kubrick told the film critic Gene D. Phillips that this was "... the only connection error he knew of in any of his films."
In general, Kubrick did not have a good hair on this film later:
“'Killer's Kiss' is better than ' Fear and Desire ', but it's still a pretty stupid movie. From a staging perspective, there are some good passages, but the subject is idiotic. The acting is very mediocre, and […] what can a film be worth if its story is idiotic and its actors are bad? [...] I don't think I took this one too seriously. I was so happy to be able to make a film about any topic that I didn't care about anything else. "
Alexander Walter suspected in 1972 that the cause of Kubrick's attitude is to be found in the fact that The Tiger of New York no longer reflected his later interests. "But it is a strangely appealing work that says a lot about the young Kubrick." ( Alexander Walker )
The female lead actress Irene Kane later worked as a writer and newspaper and television journalist under the name Chris Chase . In 1984 Matthew Chapman was inspired by the original title Killer's Kiss for Strangers Kiss . The fictional film describes the shooting of a low-budget film in 1955 and the love affair between the two main actors behind the camera.
Reviews
"The story is too often reminiscent of old-fashioned melodramas, in which the heroes enter the stage at the right moment to free the lover from the clutches of the villain."
"The film drowns its characters in a kind of weirdness that probably irritates the average audience and leads smug customers to laugh at the wrong places."
"A melodrama, overflowing with well-known and not always skilful tricks, it has a simplicity in the outer line, an atmospheric force, a straightness in its characterization, which testify to a maturing and special personality."
“Neither the hard-boiled American title, let alone the stupid German title, suggests what a vehement test of talent this film is. [...] Kubrick shares with the great neorealists the gift of transforming everyday gestures, words, situations, surroundings, while apparently registering them with the callousness of a reporter (as he started out), into something qualitatively different: in narration, into the truth of the aesthetic dimension. "
“On the formal side, the hackneyed topic was dealt with with considerable skill. [...] But this cinematic dexterity serves an unrestrained thrill that is driven beyond the limits of what is still reasonable. In the psychological context, however, one gap replaces the other. All in all a movie among gangsters that flaunts wickedness and brutality for their own sake. "
“Such a mish-mash is worthless for adults and extremely unsuitable for young people. [...] We reject brutality as an end in itself. But this film lives from that, especially in the roles that make the film attractive to some groups of visitors. "
“'Killer's Kiss' is definitely the least typical of Kubrick's films. It is a weak, naturalistic thriller based on Kubrick's own script. The story shows Kubrick's early mistakes as a dramaturge: It flickers and it lacks the obsessive drive and energy of the later films, as well as the characters. "
Awards
- 1955: Locarno International Film Festival : Best Director
literature
- Interview Stanley Kubrick (with Renaud Walter). In: Positif. No. 100-101, December 1968, p. 19 ff.
- Norman Kagan: The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick. New York 1972.
- Alexander Walker: Stanley Kubrick directs. London 1972.
- Horst Schäfer (Ed.): Materials on the films by Stanley Kubrick. Duisburg 1975.
Web links
- Killer's Kiss in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Review by U. Behrens on filmzentrale.com
swell
- ↑ a b Interview with Stanley Kubrick (with Renaud Walter). In: Positif No. 100-101 (Dec. 1968), pp. 19 ff.
- ^ Alison Castle (ed.): The Stanley Kubrick Archives. Taschen GmbH, Cologne 2005, ISBN 978-3-8365-5684-2 (page 74).
- ↑ Alexander Walker: Stanley Kubrick directs. London 1972. p. 33
- ^ Norman Kagan: The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick. New York 1972. p. 21