Search - The Naked Kiss [Widescreen] [Criterion Collection] on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1964 DVD Release: 08/26/1998 Format: DVD - Black and White,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Special Collection SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 31 mins Studio: Criterion Members Wishing: 24 Genres: Drama, Psychological Drama, Melodrama, Post-Noir (Modern Noir), Crime Drama See Also: The Naked Kiss, The Naked Kiss

Kelly (Constance Towers), a prostitute who wants to transform her life, beats up her pimp, takes the 75 dollars he owes her, and leaves town. Winding up in the small town of Grantville, she turns a trick with Griff (Anthony Eisley), who is actually the sheriff. After paying her for sex, Griff tells Kelly that Grantville is a clean town and orders her out, though he refers her to a brothel in a neighboring city. Instead, Kelly makes a final break with her past and becomes a nurse's aide at the local children's hospital. In that capacity, she meets Grant (Michael Dante), who is a benefactor of the hospital, a descendant of the town's founder -- and Griff's best friend. As Grant and Kelly fall in love, Griff viciously accuses Kelly of using her hospital job to hide ongoing illicit activities. When Kelly tells Grant about her past, he seems to accept her without reservation and proposes marriage; however, Kelly soon learns the perverse truth about her fiancée and takes matters into her own hands. Samuel Fuller's raw film noir exposes the hypocrisy of a supposedly proper society. Beneath the veneer of respectability lies an exploitive abuse of power, no different from that of any pimp. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide

Constance Towers - Kelly
Anthony Eisley - Griff
Michael Dante - Grant
Virginia Grey - Candy
Patsy Kelly - Mac

There are other DVD editions of Sam Fuller's visually striking The Naked Kiss on the market, but as of yet this Criterion Collection DVD is the one to get. The DVD has been transferred from a clean, completely remastered print and the anamorphic widescreen transfer shows off Stanley Cortez's magnificent cinematography. Cortez lensed such baroque visual marvels as The Night of the Hunter and The Magnificent Ambersons and his work on the powerful, still shocking opening sequence alone makes this fantastically overwrought noir melodrama worth owning on DVD. The audio transfer is free of hiss and well-balanced when fed through a stereo system. While the Criterion Collection scores on bringing the actual film to DVD, there aren't any meaningful DVD extras such as audio commentaries or interviews found on this high-priced package. These would be interesting to have, especially since some modern viewers may believe Fuller's nearly operatic attack on American hypocrisy is comically out of date when in fact his views sit comfortably with such recent movies as American Beauty. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide