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Kiss Me Deadly  /  M

M (1955)
December 13, 2015 - 7:00 pm
Billy Wilder Theater

Kiss Me Deadly  (1955)


Director Robert Aldrich’s film noir finds private investigator Mike Hammer picking up a beautiful young hitchhiker and finding deadly intrigue—from Bunker Hill to the beach—as various shady characters vie for a small valise that supposedly is worth a fortune.  Aldrich struck box office gold with his Mickey Spillane adaptation, which has been read as Hollywood’s most powerful statement on the Cold War and nuclear annihilation.

35mm, b/w, 105 min.  Production: Parklane Pictures, Inc.  Distribution: United Artists Corp.  Producer: Robert Aldrich.  Director: Robert Aldrich.  Based on the novel by Mickey Spillane.  Screenwriter: A.I. Bezzerides.  Cinematographer: Ernest Laszlo.  Editor: Michael Luciano.  Composer: Frank De Vol.  With: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, Wesley Addy.

M  (1951)


Director Joseph Losey’s postwar remake of Fritz Lang’s M (1931) transposes the story of a serial child killer from the streets of Berlin to Los Angeles’ now torn down Bunker Hill district.  The script follows the original down to the last speech.  David Wayne gives a masterful performance as the psychopathic killer, both sympathetic and horrifying, his face as forgettable as yesterday’s news.

35mm b/w, 90 min.  Production: Superior Pictures, Inc.  Distribution: Columbia Pictures Corp.  Producer: Seymour Nebenzal.  Director: Joseph Losey.  Screenwriter: Norman Reilly Raine, Leo Katcher.  Cinematographer: Ernest Lazlo.  Editor: Edward Mann.  Composer: Michel Michelet.  With: David Wayne, Howard Da Silva, Luther Adler, Martin Gabel, Steve Brodie, Raymond Burr.

Preceded by

Dragnet: “The Human Bomb”  (1951)


In this television debut of Jack Webb’s long-running crime-drama series, City Hall, crown jewel of the Los Angeles skyline, faces a bomb threat.

16mm, b/w, 30 min.  Producer: Homer Canfield.  Director: Jack Webb.  Based on the radio play by James E. Moser.  Writer: James E. Moser.  Photography: Frederick Gately.  Editor: Robert Angus, Herbert L. Strock.  With: Jack Webb, Barton Yarborough, Raymond Burr, Stacy Harris, Herbert Butterfield.

Part of: 
This is the City: Preserving Moving Images of Los Angeles