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A murder mystery set in a film studio, The Death Kiss is perhaps most notable for reuniting Bela Lugosi, who plays a studio executive, which his Dracula co-stars Edward Van Sloan, with whom he also appeared in the 1939 serial The Phantom Creeps, and David Manners, whom he later appeared with in The Devil’s in Love (1933) and The Black Cat (1934). Shot in black and white, certain scenes had colour tinting applied to emphasize the effects.
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Production Company: World Wide Pictures
Presented by E.W. Hammons
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Screenplay: Barry Barringer and Gordon Kahn
Based on the novel The Death Kiss by Madelon St. Dennis
Dialogue: Joe Traub
Cinematography: Norbert Bodine
Musical Direction: Val Burton
Art Direction: Ralph M. Delacey
Sound Engineer: Hans Weeren
Supervising Editor: Martin G. Cohn
Film Editor: Rose Loewinger
Running Time: 75 minutes
Copyright Number: LP3967, January 8 1933
Cast:
David Manners: Franklyn Drew
Adrienne Ames: Marcis Lane
Bela Lugosi: Joseph Steiner
John Wray: Detecetive Lieutenant Sheehan
Vince Barnett: Officer Gulliver
Alexander carr: Leon Grossmith
Edward Van Sloan: Tom Avery
Harold Minjir: Howell
Al Hill: Assistant Director
Barbara Bedford: Script Clerk
Alan Roscoe: Chalmers
Mona Maris: Mrs. Avery
Edmund Burns: Myles Brent
James Donlin: Max Hill
Harold Waldridge: Charlie, the clerk
Lee Moran: Todd
Wilson Benge: Doorman
Wade Boteler: Sergeant Hilliker
Eddy Chandler: Mechanic
Harry Strang: Gaffer
Eddie Boland: Bill
Frank O’Connor: Policeman
Wilson Benge: Café Henri actor doorman
Jack Byron: Passerby
Charles Dorety: Bill
Lester Dorr: Hotel desk clerk
Neely Edwards: Cliffside Inn desk clerk
Grace Hayle: Chalmer’s nosy neighbor
Ralph Lewis: Winchell
Mona Maris: Mrs. Agnes Avery
Clarence Muse: Shoeshine man
Frank O’Connor: Tom
Spec O’Donnell: Pete
George O’Hanlon: Man sitting on curb
Steve Pendleton: Bystander
Allan Roscoe: Chalmers
Matty Roubert: Newsboy
Harry Strang: Gaffer
Paul Porcasi: Ellsmith
King Baggott: Al Payne
Monte Vandergrif: Studio cop
Kathrin Clare Ward: Ms. Potts
Stanhope Wheatcroft: Mr. Wheatcroft
Maston Williams: Movie gunman
Jack Wise: Reporter
Forrest Taylor
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The Film Daily, December 22, 1932
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Pitsburgh Post-Gazette, December 31, 1932
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The Hollywood Reporter, January 18, 1933
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The Hollywood Reporter, January 23, 1933
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Cavalier Daily, January 27, 1933
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The Hollywood Reporter, January 30, 1933
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Photoplay Magazine, February, 1933
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The New York Times, February 5, 1933
WITH its new policy of low prices and vaudeville in lieu of special stage presentations, the Seventh Avenue Roxy drew great crowds last week. The screen offering was “The Death Kiss,” which, although it is somewhat staccato in its dialogue and movement, at least affords a decided surprise in the closing sequence.
There are several other surprises in the course of this feature, and at the outset one sees persons in an automobile discussing killing a man and then one hears shots and perceives a victim fall. It turns out to be the acting of a scene for a motion picture, with the confident director in his camp chair. He grumbles about the death scene, telling the actor that he spins too much and it does not look real. A second later it is discovered that the actor playing the part of the man who is supposed to die actually has been shot. He is dead and the spinning was his last histrionic effort. This much happens in the opening sequence, and from then on the interest is kept up, even though somewhat mechanically, until the climactic episode, when the identity of the individual responsible for the shooting of one actor and the poisoning of another is revealed.
The picture has a group of efficient players, including Adrienne Ames, David Manners, Bela Lugosi, Alexander Carr, Vincent Barnett and Barbara Bedford.
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New England Film News February 9, 1933*
Pitsburgh Post-Gazette, February 15, 1933
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Pitsburgh Post-Gazette, February 16, 1933
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Pitsburgh Post-Gazette, February 17, 1933
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Unknown Magazine
Courtesy of www.greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.jp
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The Reading Eagle, February 22, 1933
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Unknown Newspaper
Courtesy of www.greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.jp
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The Reading Eagle, February 23, 1933
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The Reading Eagle, February 27, 1933
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Unknown Newspaper
Courtesy of www.greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.jp
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Eugene Register-Guard, March 26, 1933
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Mt. Pleasant Daily Times, July 6, 1933
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Spokane Daily Chronicle, July 19, 1933
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The Sydney Morning Herald, July 31, 1933
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Spokane Daily Chronicle, March 17, 1936
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The Malakoff News, October 21, 1938
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Posters
Mini Window Card
Courtesy of http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/
Display Card
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Lobby Cards
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Stills
Bela Lugosi and Alexander Carr
(Courtesy of Paul Seiler)
(Still courtesy of Paul Seiler)
(Courtesy of Paul Seiler)