On Christmas Eve, a down-on-his-luck ex-convict, Nick Bianco (Victor Mature), and his three cohorts rob a jewelry store. Before they can exit, the proprietor sets off his alarm, and Nick is apprehended by the police.

Later, Assistant District Attorney Louis D'Angelo (Brian Donlevy) tries to persuade Nick, who has two young daughters and a wife, to name his accomplices in exchange for a light sentence. Sure that his lawyer, Earl Howser (Taylor Holmes), and cohorts will look after his family while he is incarcerated, Nick refuses and is given a twenty-year sentence. Three years later, at Sing Sing Prison, Nick learns that his wife has committed suicide, and his daughters have been sent to an orphanage.

Nick is visited by Nettie Cavallo (Coleen Gray), a young woman who used to babysit his girls, and learns that his wife had been attacked by one of his accomplices. D'Angelo makes a deal that if Nick helps the police on another case, he will be allowed to see his children.

Howser, who also acts as a fence for his clients, hires Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark), a sadistic killer, to murder Rizzo. Udo pushes wheelchair-bound Ma Rizzo (Mildred Dunnock) down a flight of stairs.

Nick is freed on parole at D'Angelo's behest, and pledges his love to Nettie. To stay paroled, Nick continues his work with D'Angelo. The unsuspecting Udo takes Nick to various clubs, and reveals enough information about a murder he committed to enable the police to arrest him. Despite Nick's testimony and other evidence, Udo is acquitted.

Sure that the killer will be after him, and that the police will not be able to protect him and his family, Nick sends Nettie and the children to the country. Then Nick finds Udo, telephones D'Angelo, and instructs him to go to a police station near the restaurant and await his call.

Udo prepares to have Nick gunned down from the back seat of his car. Deducing Udo's plan, Nick calls D'Angelo to tell him that a confrontation is about to occur. Nick then walks to Udo's car and dares him to shoot, which Udo does, repeatedly. Before Udo can escape, however, the police capture him. Though badly wounded, Nick survives, and he and Nettie look forward to a happy, peaceful life together.

A 1947 American film-noir directed by Henry Hathaway, produced by Fred Kohlmar, screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, based on Eleazar Lipsky's novel " The Kiss of Death" (1947), cinematography by Norbert Brodine, starring Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Taylor Holmes, Howard Smith, Karl Malden, Mildred Dunnock, Eva Condon, Patricia Morison and introducing Coleen Gray in her first billed role. Screen debut appearance of Richard Widmark. Narrated by Coleen Gray.

New York locations include the Chrysler Building, the Criminal Courts Building at 100 Centre Street, the old Hotel Marguery at 270 Park Avenue at 48th Street, the St. Nicholas Arena, and the now-demolished Bronx House of Detention for Men (later known as the Bronx County Jail) at 151st Street and River Avenue.The exterior scenes of the family home were shot in Astoria, Queens, New York, at 14th Place and Astoria Park, and the Triboro Bridge and the Hell Gate Bridge can be seen in the background over Astoria Park.

Non-NYC locations include Sing Sing Penitentiary in Ossining, and the Academy of the Holy Angels in Fort Lee, New Jersey, was used as the orphanage where Nick visits his daughters. The site is now occupied by Mediterranean Towers South at 2000 Linwood Avenue. The school moved to Demarest, New Jersey, in 1965.

The film has received critical praise since its release, with two Academy Award nominations. Best Supporting Actor, Richard Widmark, and Best Motion Picture Story, Eleazar Lipsky.

Widmark's performance inspired the name of mystery/crime writer Donald E. Westlake's best-known continuing pseudonym, Richard Stark, under which he wrote some of his darkest, violent books. According to Westlake, "part of (Widmark's) fascination and danger is his unpredictability. He's fast and mean, and that's what I wanted the writing to be: crisp and lean, no fat, trimmed down...stark."

Originally, Nick was supposed to die. However, it was decided that it was too depressing, so in the narration Nick's wife says he survives.

Hathaway said he "loved the picture because I liked working outside. It was exciting to manoeuvre things and get work done without people on the streets knowing that you were filming." He said the only problem was Victor Mature. "He was carousing all the time and up all night and sleeping all day on the set. He was dirty. I bought him a couple of new suits, and I found him in the men's toilet, lying on the floor asleep in one of the new suits I'd bought him. But he was a good actor."

A taut, realistic gangster noir crime drama. This film is "required reading" in the study of gangster films, because what makes this film is Richard Widmark's exceptional and frightening performance. A classic of the noir genre and should be added to your film library.

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