Thursday, November 15, 2007

"I fell in to a burning box of fire ... "

If you're looking for ideas on what to write about Kiss Me Deadly, here's an idea: do a little research on one of the allusions that Dr. G.E. Soberin made -- he had quite a few, even one when he was dying of a gunshot wound -- and discuss the relevance of the allusion to the film. Here are the main ones I can think of: Pandora, Lot's wife, Medusa, Cerberus. Feel free to write about another one that you remember.

Or, if you want to continue to discuss the apocalyptic ending, here's a link to an excellent article about possible reasons why there are two different endings and the writer's (excellent film/DVD critic Glenn Erickson) interpretation of them. Neither of them look like this, the ending of Mickey Spillane's novel on which the film is based:
In the novel Hammer finally catches up with femme fatale Lily Carver just after she's taken an alcohol rubdown. He offhandedly ignites her with a Zippo. She burns in agony. He takes calm satisfaction from his deed. It's sort of a followup to outdo the sadistic I the Jury ending. There Hammer shoots a wrong dame in the stomach with the quip, "It was easy."
So, yes, it's actually possible for Mike Hammer to have been more sadistic than he was in this movie.

Lastly, just because I want to prove to you that this movie is regarded as a classic, and that I didn't choose it by throwing darts at a noir dartboard, here's a link to an essay by noted film noir scholar (yes, such people exist) Alain Silver that analyzes KMD's stylistic hallmarks. I don't expect you to read the whole thing, but at least glance at a few paragraphs.

3 comments:

DarkNovaBlade said...

apparently, the box contained a radionuclide (some kinda unstable molecule) which reached critical mass and destablized at the end and exploded.
This doesn't explain the noise it made, or how it was contained safely for who knows how long just to explode at the perfect moment.
I guess it wasn't an angry midget with a flamethrower...

Ryne said...

This just crossed my mind. I know that Pulp Fiction's briefcase was modeled after the box in this movie according to the super fun film packet. WHAT IF in the scene in Brett's apartment when John Travolta opens the case, he suddenly burst into flames. I would appreciate Tarantino so much more as a director if only he had put in that small yet extremely effective scene. Just a random thought.

Anonymous said...

At the end of Kiss Me Deadly who was the girl Mike Hammer was with when they were running away from the exploding house? (which looked really unrealistic)