Kiss Me Deadly

Here’s what struck me most about this movie: the women were all hyper-sexualized and the men were all aloof and “married” to their work, generally ignoring the advances of the women. So much so that in any one scene where a man was alone with a woman, you can expect that she’ll do something ridiculously and inappropriately seductive. There’s kind of a Medusa aspect to that, especially in the case of Lily, where they are trying to get the man to do something he knows he shouldn’t. And, I suppose, like Perseus, he brushes it off, he remains resolute. Even when he and his partner are running from the house as it burns down, he continues to look ahead while his lady friend keeps glancing back. I don’t know really what to make of the hyper-sexualized females of the film. I also don’t know what to make of Michael’s choice to ignore them outright. It’s not like he was only unresponsive, he just acted as if it weren’t even happening.

In the case of Classical Hollywood Cinema, Kiss Me Deadly kept pretty close to the formula. Time and space were linear and consistent, you could pretty much always tell where the characters were in relation to other locations. Camera angles followed the 180 degree rule, engaged in shot-reverse shot and match on action. You got establishing shots, reaction shots, POV shots, eyeline matches, and all of those fun things which come with the continuity system of editing. It achieves “invisibility” of editing to an extent, I think, but the opening scene bothered me. When the camera is doing a close-up of her running feet, she is running along the road’s dividing line. But when it cuts to a long shot, she’s running in the middle of the lane, not on the divider. I don’t know if it’s intentional or poor editing, but it just looks like poor editing. Anyway, the lighting crew and make-up did an excellent job of making the ladies look beautiful. I know they put a lot of effort into lighting the women just right.

One other point I want to make is the bright light that prevents us from seeing what’s in the box. Even when the camera looks directly inside, it’s just light. And, apparently, you don’t even have to see it for it to hurt you, just having the light touch your skin is enough to burn you. That’s kind of weird. Really, the whole concept of Medusa’s head in a box and people vying for possession is weird. Medusa has almost nothing to do with it, you don’t even see her, you get no history or context. She has no form, she’s just light inside of a box. I mean, there are those elements of being compelled to look at her despite warnings. Or, not “look at her” because she’s not a woman in the film. She’s an object, kind of in the same way all the women in the film are – objects of desire. Their sexuality, their attraction is what defines them. Of course, in the end, the man and the “love interest” get together per usual, but it’s more of an addendum than anything significant. Of course the man saves the damsel in distress. He always does, he’s been doing it the whole movie. He tried to “save” Medusa, too, by deciding to keep her locked away. But he got caught by the attraction as well, to an extent. He felt compelled to continue the investigation despite warnings. But, like Perseus, he just had something to prove.