Kiss the Blood Off My Hands

Plot

Bill Saunders is a Canadian former prisoner of war now living in England, whose experiences have left him unstable and violent. He gets into a pub fight in which he kills the publican and then flees. As the police pursue Saunders, he sneaks into the apartment of Jane Wharton, a nurse, while she is sleeping. Wharton allows Saunders to stay overnight. The next morning, Wharton leaves for work and Saunders returns to his apartment. He then waits outside the hospital to meet with Wharton. He introduces himself and follows her to a zoo, much to her annoyance. However, the sound of the zoo animals traumatizes Saunders and they leave together. He interests Wharton into attending a horse race, and with Saunders's confidence, she wins a horse bet.

As Wharton leaves to collect her winnings, Saunders is approached by Harry Carter, who had witnessed the pub fight. On the way home, Saunders and Wharton take the express train ride, where Carter reencounters Saunders and proposes a partnership. Tom Widgery, an English man, enters their cart and they play a card game. However, Saunders suspects Widgery of cheating and assaults him. Wharton pulls an emergency brake and they leave the train. Wharton disavows Saunders, and when a policeman arrives, Saunders assaults him.

Saunders is found guilty of robbery and assault, and is given six months of hard labor for each charge. The judge also orders Saunders to be flogged. Saunders completes his sentence and during a game of pool, Carter proposes they collaborate to steal and transport penicillin supplies. Afterwards, Saunders reconnects with Wharton outside her apartment. Still in love with him, she has Saunders hired as a truck driver. While at work, Carter blackmails Saunders into performing the robbery.

On the night of the robbery, Wharton decides to ride with him. However, Saunders backs out temporarily so he does not involve Wharton. Sometime later, Carter arrives at Wharton's apartment and reveals Saunder's real crime and demands her complicity in the robbery. When Carter forces himself on her, Wharton stabs Carter with scissors but he survives. Saunders arrives and takes Carter to his apartment, where Carter holds Saunders at gunpoint and threatens to tell the police. Saunders gains the upper hand, and Carter dies.

At the docks, Saunders meets with the boat captain to have the stolen penicillin pay for their escape. Haunted by Carter's words, Wharton leaves her apartment but Saunders finds her on the street. They discuss on whether Saunders had intended to kill the publican and how they will live should they flee. They reaffirm their love for each other and decide to stay in England.

Production

Origin of Norma Productions

After serving in World War II, former theatre actor, film choreographer and literary agent Harold Hecht returned to Hollywood with plans to head his own talent agency. In September 1945, he formed the Hecht-Rantz Agency with his friend and former Goldstone Agency employee, Louis Rantz. Rantz had also worked in Hollywood during the mid-1930s, as an associate producer at Metropolitan Pictures, George A. Hirliman Productions and B.F. Zeidman Productions. Hecht and Rantz set up their office at 324 South Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, California.

During a show-going holiday in New York City in late November 1945, Lillian Schary, Dore Schary's sister, suggested to Hecht that he go see a new Broadway play at the Lyceum Theater. A Sound of Hunting, which had opened off-Broadway a couple of weeks earlier, was showcasing brand new actor Burt Lancaster. Hecht was immediately impressed with Lancaster's performance. He later said of that night "When I saw Burt Lancaster in A Sound of Hunting on Broadway (in 1945), I knew he had it. I don't know how you could miss it. He was so dominating, so much larger than life". Hecht attended the play many more times before it closed after only twenty-three performances on December 8, 1945; it fared better once adapted by Stanley Kramer into the film Eight Iron Men in 1952, with Lee Marvin reprising Lancaster's role.

When nearly all of the major Hollywood studios started coming at Lancaster with contract offers, his friend and A Sound of Hunting co-star Sam Levene, an established stage and film actor, offered to represent him. Together, they were invited to restaurants, hearing offers from independent producer David O. Selznick, head of Selznick International Pictures, 20th Century-Fox Film scouts and Harold B. Wallis' new Paramount Pictures-financed production company, Hal Wallis Productions, which had recently signed such talent as Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey, Lizabeth Scott, Barbara Stanwyck, Don DeFore, Ann Richards, Kristine Miller, Douglas Dick and Betsy Drake.

Lancaster was then approached by Hecht, who hoped to bring the new unknown star back to Hollywood. When Levene introduced Hecht to Lancaster in their dressing room on the last night of the play, Hecht opted for honesty. He told Lancaster "I know everybody, but I have few clients. If you sign with me, you'd be important to me. I'd work harder for you because I want to eat and I'd have to keep you working". Contrary to popular quotes from the parties, Lancaster signed with Hecht before the mention of producing their own films was even mentioned. Lancaster immediately signed with the Hecht-Rantz Agency in his dressing room and then went out to celebrate at a restaurant. It was once at this restaurant that they talked some more about the film industry and Hecht said "You know, I don't like being an agent. I want to produce pictures". Lancaster replied that he too would like to produce films, which led to Hecht retorting "Maybe in five years we can make it".

Development and casting

Hecht and Lancaster's first independent film production was revealed to the press simultaneously with the announcement of their new film production company. As co-producer, Lancaster could have picked any type of role to play for his independent debut, but chose to stick to the crime dramas that had made him famous. Kiss the Blood Off My Hands would be a film noir adaptation of the 1940 British best-selling novel by Gerald Butler. The story could have just as easily been chosen by Mark Hellinger Productions. To craft the film, Hecht and Lancaster hired cast and crew that were notable in the crime, mystery and film noir genres. Jules Buck, who had worked as Hellinger's associate producer on The Killers, Brute Force and The Naked City at Universal-International Pictures, signed on with Hecht and Lancaster in the same position. Joining them was Richard Vernon, a British film producer, then living in Hollywood. Vernon acquired the novel's filming rights, on his behalf, through British literary agency Curtis Brown Limited, one of the largest literary agencies of the era (with offices in England and the United States), and in turn sold the rights to Norma Productions, remaining on board as co-producer.

Butler's novel's filming rights had originally been purchased by Eagle-Lion Productions in 1946, with the intention to produce a film starring Robert Donat, as the actor had terminated of his exclusive contract with MGM British. But Eagle-Lion Productions' option had since expired. Only months after the Norma Productions acquisition, Buck left the project and was bought out for $17,500 to cover any claims he might have on the development. He was replaced by associate producer Norman Deming, who had worked on the successful film noir Gilda, starring Glenn Ford. Deming not only helped with the production but was added to the board of directors at Norma Productions after buying an interest in the company. Kiss the Blood Off My Hands was adapted by Walter Bernstein (who was under contract to Hecht) and Ben Maddow (who had worked on another Glenn Ford film noir Framed) with Leonardo Bercovici writing the actual screenplay. Bercovici's most famous work at the time had been the Cary Grant and David Niven comedy film The Bishop's Wife, but his strength lay in crime thrillers and film noirs, having worked on The Lost Moment, Moss Rose, Chasing Danger, Prison Train and Racket Busters. Hugh Gray, whose most recent work at the time was the crime thriller River Gang, acted as technical advisor and helped with additional dialogue and cockney accents.

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands was initially to go into production in September 1947 with director Robert Siodmak at the helm, but it was first pushed back to November 15. Siodmak had already directed Lancaster in The Killers (which earned him an Oscar nomination and an Edgar Allan Poe Award), and was noted in Hollywood for his mastery of crime-melodrama films. He held credits directing other crime, mystery and film noirs as Time Out of Mind, The Dark Mirror, The Spiral Staircase, The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, The Suspect, Christmas Holiday, Phantom Lady, Son of Dracula, The Night Before the Divorce, Fly-by-Night, Pièges, Autour d'une enquête, Stürme der Leidenschaft and Tumultes, in addition to writing the story that was turned into Conflict. Siodmak was planning to film Kiss the Blood Off My Hands before his next Hellinger-produced picture Cry of the City, the later of which was scheduled to be filmed in late December 1947. But Kiss the Blood Off My Hands' November to December 1947 shooting schedule was pushed back again by a month, and then indefinitely, until a mid-March 1948 date was secured. Universal-International Pictures changed the schedule firstly to allow All My Sons to be filmed first, as an assurance that their end of the bargain would be taken care of, and secondly, to give Lancaster enough time to fulfill Wallis' film obligation at Paramount Studio and Siodmak a chance to wrap up his Hellinger project. All My Sons was filmed from September to December 1947, following which Lancaster switched over to Paramount for Wallis' Sorry, Wrong Number, filmed from January to March 1948. Both of these films would be released in 1948, after the filming of Kiss the Blood Off My Hands.

Lawsuit

On March 1, 1948, two weeks before filming was scheduled to start, lawyer-turned-agent-turned-producer Charles K. Feldman filled a $1,000,000 damage lawsuit against ten people and companies associated with the production of the film: Universal-International Pictures, Norma Productions, Eagle-Lion Productions, Phil Berg-Bert Allenberg (Berg was Fontaine's agent, who had little to do with the film but was reputable enough to attract more attention to the suit), Harold Hecht, Burt Lancaster, Joan Fontaine, Richard Vernon, Gerald Butler and Allan Collins (president of the Curtis Brown Limited's American division). Feldman claimed that his film production company, Charles K. Feldman Group Productions, owned the filming rights to Butler's novel and demanded Lancaster's production be shut down. Feldman also claimed to have purchased the novel's rights from Eagle-Lion Productions, whereas, in defense, Vernon claimed to have procured the rights directly from Butler (through Curtis Brown Limited).

Feldman may have been holding a grudge against Lancaster, who had been approached to co-star in his production of Red River, right before its shooting began in September 1946. At the time, Lancaster was wrapping up Desert Fury and was already booked to film two more films, Variety Girl and I Walk Alone, back-to-back for Wallis at Paramount Studios. It is unknown under which circumstances he and his agent turned Feldman down, but Lancaster's part was quickly offered to Montgomery Clift. Universal-International Pictures proceeded with the production of Kiss the Blood Off My Hands as planned, paying little attention to the lawsuit, which was eventually sustained in favor of the defendants by Judge Stanley Barnes at the Los Angeles Superior Court on July 6, 1948, long after filming had wrapped up.

Filming

Principal photography started on March 15, 1948, at Universal-International Pictures' Sound Stage 21. with cinematographer Gregg Toland, a six-time Academy Award nominee for his work in black and white films. Toland had won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 1940 for Wuthering Heights and had been chosen by Orson Welles to work on Citizen Kane. By the end of March 1948, however, after two weeks of shooting, Toland was replaced by Universal-International Pictures' contracted cinematographer, Russell Metty. Metty had also worked with Welles, on The Stranger, and Lancaster on All My Sons, as well as a number of film noirs and thrillers for Universal-International Pictures and RKO Radio Pictures, including A Woman's Vengeance, Ride the Pink Horse, Ivy, The Private Affairs of Bel Ami, Whistle Stop, The Falcon's Brother, Night Waitress and The Spellbinder. Jack Voglin was brought in as assistant director, having also worked with Welles on The Stranger, on top of two notable film noirs, Guest in the House and The Dark Mirror. Corson Jowett was hired as sound recordist.

Lancaster was often late during the shooting, shuffling between his role as actor and producer. Fontaine also announced her pregnancy with Deborah Leslie Dozier a week after filming began. Her nausea and vomiting forced her to stop every morning at the top of Sepulveda Pass on her way to Universal Studio. She also caught a cold and was out for a total of twelve, non-consecutive days. None of the crew knew if she'd be coming in each morning. This in turn caused problems for Lancaster, who wore a four-day stubble beard in nearly half of the film. Each time Fontaine called out sick, Lancaster shaved his beard to allow for filming of a later scene. Growing his stubble back always took him a weekend.

Lancaster was known for executing his own stunts throughout his career and in Kiss the Blood Off My Hands he wanted to perform the cat o' nine tails whipping scene as authentically as possible. He knew that his facial expression could never replicate the pain unless he was truly experiencing lashing and he insisted that actor Harold Goodwin (playing the role of the whipper) "really lay it on him". The scene was not done with an actual leaded cat o' nine tails, but rather with a split leather belt. Still, Lancaster's back was so blistered and welted the next day that he was unable to wear a shirt.

The fog machine on the set was unreliable and the exterior scenes were often postponed due to heavy rain. Certain scenes could not be reproduced cheaply in studio so they were filmed on location at Griffith Park Zoo and Hollywood Park Racetrack. Newton also caused several delays as he required two days' notice prior to filming each scene in order to properly get into the character's role.

Post-production

Before filming had even begun, Lancaster approached two-time Oscar winner (with an additional six more nominations) Miklós Rózsa in early March 1948 to compose the score of the film. Rózsa had already worked on three previous Lancaster films: Desert Fury, Brute Force and The Killers (the last of which earned him an Oscar nomination). Rózsa was no stranger to the crime, thriller and film noir genre, with additional credits on The Naked City, A Woman's Vengeance, Secret Beyond the Door, A Double Life (which earned him an Oscar nomination), The Red House, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The Lost Weekend (which earned him an Oscar nomination), Spellbound (which won him an Oscar), Lady on a Train, Blood on the Sun, The Man in Half Moon Street, Dark Waters, The Hour Before the Dawn, Double Indemnity (which earned him an Oscar nomination), On the Night of the Fire, The Spy in Black, The Green Cockatoo, The Squeaker and Thunder in the City. Rózsa recorded the score in the middle of July with a seventy-five piece orchestra arranged by Eugene Zador.

Milton Carruth, a long-time contract editor at Universal-International Pictures, was selected to edit the film in early April 1948. His work as editor on Alfred Hitchcock's personal favorite film, Shadow of a Doubt, made him a reputable editor, and he had also worked on notable mysteries, horrors and thrillers like The Lost Moment, Dead Man's Eyes, Weird Woman, The Mad Ghoul, Captive Wild Woman, The Mummy's Tomb, Night Monster, Mystery of Marie Roget, Dracula's Daughter, Werewolf of London, The Mummy, Afraid to Talk, Back Street, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Dracula, Night Ride and Outside the Law, making him a perfect candidate to edit Norma Productions' film noir. One of the concerns that the production team had was with regards to the amount of material they could leave in of Lancaster's flogging scene. The Motion Picture Association of America objected, but the producers appealed; it was decided that the preview audience would have a say in the final matter. The preview viewers gave it a favorable approval and the scene was left almost unedited.

After completing a rough cut in early June, Hecht and Lancaster were so impressed by Newton's on-screen performance that they immediately began developing another vehicle for him titled Old Harry Out West, written by Hugh Gray. Norma Productions had hopped to film the picture later in 1948 but the story was eventually dropped in favor of other Lancaster-starred pictures. Sources vary as to when the film finished its post-production stage, ranging between mid-July to mid-September. Upon the completion of the picture, Hecht and Lancaster presented gift baskets of beverages to every member of the cast, crew and company executives affiliated with the picture.

Title, rating and censorship

The title of the film has been subject to a certain level of controversy, which led way to rumors exponentially growing over the years. Universal-International Pictures was never opposed to the film's original title. It was not until March 1948 that the title was questioned. The script had been sent in to the Motion Picture Association of America's Title Registration Bureau (a required procedure at the time) and had been reviewed and approved by Margaret Ann Young, head of the section under Eric Johnston's administration. The Motion Picture Association of America found that Kiss the Blood Off My Hands did not violate any provisions to their code. Young merely recommended that the title be changed and that the whipping scene be kept short. Her decision was based on a comparison between the film's title, the script and the message it gave to the audience. Young had previously conducted a survey in December 1947, and concluded that half of the film titles that were submitted to the Motion Picture Association of America dealt with crime or violence. This trend was later revealed to be partly caused by the rise of film noirs following World War II.

In mid-March 1948, Hecht sent out over five hundred letters to theater owners, exhibitors, circuit heads, bookers and buyers, asking their opinion with regards to the title of Norma Productions' first film. He also contacted over one hundred different universities' psychology department heads and hired Princeton University's Audience Research Institute to conduct a survey.

As late as May 13, 1948, on the eve of completing filming, the movie was still known under its original title, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands. After receiving a considerable amount of feedback from the letters Hecht sent out, Norma Productions volunteered to change the film's title. An internal contest was held at the film production's office which offered $50 to the best new title suggestion. A Universal-International Pictures employee was responsible for suggesting the new title Blood on My Hands, but Dozier's personal secretary at Rampart Productions, Lillian Browne, came up with The Unafraid, which Lancaster liked best as it touched up on the personality of the character he portrayed in the movie. Browne won the $50 prize. The title The Unafraid was first used publicly on May 21, 1948, when Variety announced producer Vernon's newly born child, while he was producing The Unafraid. On May 29, 1948, Boxoffice confirmed the title change, and on June 1, 1948, The Film Daily reported "Norma Productions has just completed "Unafraid", formerly titled "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands", for release by Universal-International". Thusly, from May to August 1948, during its entire post-production stage, the film was known as The Unafraid.

Distribution

Preview and release

When heading into production in March 1948, Universal-International Pictures had scheduled to release Kiss the Blood Off My Hands in October of that year. Everything remained on schedule and the film was previewed in various cuts during the summer of 1948 to gauge audience reaction. Once the film was ready for general circulation, Norma Productions previewed the film in eleven key cities for members of the press from mid-to-late October 1948. The film officially premiered on Friday, October 29, 1948, at Loew's Criterion Theater in New York City, and opened to over three hundred theaters in the United States starting on October 30 and throughout November 1948.

During its inaugural run at Loew's Criterion Theater in New York City, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands was preceded by the Universal-International Pictures short Buddy Rich and His Orchestra, followed be Columbia Pictures' short Boy and His Dog and finally with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short Pigskin Skill.

European distribution

On September 24, 1948, The Film Daily reported that Joseph H. Seidelman, head of foreign operations for Universal-International Pictures, took Kiss the Blood Off My Hands and eleven other Universal-International Pictures films (including Rampart Productions' You've Got to Stay Happy and Lancaster's next film Criss Cross which had been filmed from mid-June to mid-July 1948 during Kiss the Blood Off My Hand's post-production) over to Europe for distribution through markets in France, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Italy and Belgium. The film opened in Sweden on May 2, 1949, in Finland on August 19, 1949, in France on November 21, 1949, in Portugal on July 14, 1950, in Denmark on March 9, 1951, in Spain on April 23, 1951, in Austria in November 1953 and in West Germany on November 20, 1953.

Marketing

The film benefited from great publicity, mostly headed by Lancaster as Fontaine was indisposed after giving birth to her daughter. Lancaster wanted to raise awareness for his new production company and made himself available for all of Universal-International Pictures' publicity plans, spending from mid-October 1948 to early January 1949 promoting the film. Two weeks prior to the opening of the film, Hecht and Lancaster, accompanied by Norma Productions' advertising and publicity director William Peirce Jr., and Universal-International Pictures' eastern publicity manager, Al Horwits, went on an eleven city personal appearance tour. Their program included screening Kiss the Blood Off My Hand, exclusively for the press, radio representatives and motion picture exhibitors, followed by a luncheon with the attendees to conduct exclusive interviews. Lancaster also appeared on local radio stations and tie-in events with local stores, and occasionally met with the newspaper press for one-on-one interviews. Starting in mid-October, the promotional team appeared in New York City (October 16), Baltimore (October 19), Philadelphia (October 20 at the Variety Club with special guest Mickey Rooney), Pittsburgh (October 21), Cleveland (October 22 at the Carter Hotel), Rochester (October 23), Buffalo (October 24 with a luncheon with the city's mayor Bernard J. Dowd and an interview on Foster Brooks' radio show), Cincinnati (October 25), Chicago (October 26), Memphis (October 27) and Atlanta (October 28).

Universal-International Pictures' advertising and publicity department, headed by Maurice F. Bergman, came up with an original idea to publicize the film. A week prior to the opening in each of the twenty key cities (and its suburbs), the studio took out a full page, one thousand lines - seven column advertisements, listing all of the theater openings with times and dates for the cities and their surrounding areas. The same advertisement was placed on the day of opening, for each city, in the local newspapers. This was the first time that Universal-International Pictures took out a full-page newspaper advertisement to promote the opening of a single film. Sporting goods stores also featured athletic displays of Lancaster stills from the film, billboards and window displays were positioned in key locations around the city and taxi cabs carried announcement banners on the back of their cars.

Newspapers and motion picture magazines also carried interviews with Lancaster and mentioned his scheduled personal appearances and press conferences. In some magazines, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands was cross promoted with Rampart Productions' film You Gotta Stay Happy, doubling the star appeal for Fontaine.

Radio adaptation

On February 21, 1949, Fontaine and Lancaster reprised their roles for the Lux Radio Theater 60-minute radio adaptation of The Unafraid, broadcast on CBS. Jay Novello, who had a smaller part in the film, played Newton's role on the radio adaptation.

Theatrical re-releases

The film has been reissued a number of times in theaters. The first revival interest sparked in October 1955, while Lancaster was filming Norma Productions' film Trapeze Paris. The first reissue ran from December 10, 1955, to September 15, 1956, across theaters in the United States, as a double feature with Universal-International Pictures' 1949 film Johnny Stool Pigeon, starring Tony Curtis and Shelley Winters. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City screened the film on October 27, 1977.

The Film Noir Foundation was able to obtain a new 35mm print from Universal Pictures, which they presented on Saturday, February 3, 2007, during their Noir City Film Festival at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. It was double-billed with I Walk Alone, starring Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Lizabeth Scott. The Los Angeles Film Festival screened the film on June 2, 2013, at the Billy Wilder Theatre, double-billed with Brute Force, where Lancaster biographer Kate Buford made a personal appearance. The Northwest Chicago Film Society screened the film in February 2014 at the Patio Theater.

Television and home media

On November 29, 1960, Screen Gems, a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, leased Kiss the Blood Off My Hands as part of a 75 pre-1948 Universal-International Pictures film lot (which also included Criss Cross) for television airing on CBS.

The film was never officially released on VHS, laserdisc, nor DVD, but poor quality bootlegs circulated, obtained from television screenings. In March 2019, it was announced that Kino Lorber would be releasing the first official home media edition of the film on Blu-ray. The Blu-ray was scheduled for release on June 9, 2020, but was pushed back to July 14, 2020. The release featured a new 2K transfer, the original theatrical trailer, and an audio commentary by film historian Jeremy Arnold.

Shown on the Turner Classic Movies show 'Noir Alley' with Eddie Muller on February 11, 2023.

Reception

Box office

Although later downplayed as a commercial failure with lukewarm critical reception (perhaps only in comparison to Norma Productions' later films), the film did fairly well at the box office for an independent production and was driven by Lancaster's quick rise to fame. At the time, Lancaster was considered a sound investment, guaranteed for at least $1,000,000 in box office revenue. Within its first week, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands had grossed over $44,000 at Loew's Criterion Theater in New York City alone and Variety ranked it fifth most successful in box office attractions for the month of November 1948. The film broke opening weekend records at The Ritz Theater in Albany, New York when it opened in mid-November 1948.

In January 1949, Variety ranked it 84th in the "Top Grossers of 1948" list, having already made $1,600,000 in box office from the big cities' 1948 showings. It has not been established how much more the film grossed after rolling out to the rest of the United States (smaller towns), the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the rest of Europe throughout 1949 and the early 1950s.

Critical response

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands received a consistently positive critical reception. Critics variously praised every aspect of the film, from its direction and photography, to its production values, its musical score, the strength of the script as well as the acting skills of Fontaine, Lancaster and Newton.

Boxoffice wrote on October 16, 1948: "This first Harold Hecht-Norma production scores a bullseye with an exciting, romantic and plausible story against striking backgrounds of bomb-shattered London after the war. The acting is of a high order, especially by Joan Fontaine as the girl who loves a tempestuous youth with a criminal record, Burt Lancaster as the youth and Robert Newton as a despicable black marketeer who gets them into his power. From the opening when a man dies from a blow of the youth's fist to the end when the youth and the girl decide to face justice, there is continuous action brought about by the youth's readiness to resort to violence in escaping both from the police and the gangsters. Lancaster succeeds in winning sympathy for the type of character he plays, and makes understandable the girl's love for him. There is no glorifying of crime. Norman Foster directed".

Showmen's Trade Review wrote on October 16, 1948: "Audience Slant: (Adult) Alternating between cruelty and sentimentality, this unusual mixture packs a certain fascination that grows on you after you have seen the picture. Box-Office Slant: While the film is rough and ready in its action, the fundamental theme is a love story; therefore the ladies, as well as the men, should like it. Go after them. Comment: Here is a most unusual love story. Outwardly the film is a tough, cruel action piece, set in the drab environs of lower middle-class London. But running though all the blunt action is a warm and glowing romance of the tenderest sort, with Joan Fontaine and Burt Lancaster extracting every bit of meaning from the various situations. A fine job of thespianism. Robert Newton is his usual villainous self. The picture will need extra selling to achieve full benefit, but the material is there. You have the Fontaine-Lancaster pairing, Leonardo Bercovici as screenwriter, Norman Foster as director. The big selling job, however, is to tip off the feminine trade that this is fundamentally a heart-warming love story, despite its brutal exterior. The men can take it on the action alone, if they want to. The picture holds a fascination by virtue of its sentiment surrounded by violence. It stays with you after you have seen it-a fact that may make a good word-of-mouth. We hail the team of Joan Fontaine-Burt Lancaster".