Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

The Death Kiss

 The Death Kiss
type
TVTItem
 The Death Kiss
label
The Death Kiss
 The Death Kiss
page
TheDeathKiss
 The Death Kiss
comment
The Death Kiss is a 1933 film directed by Edwin L. Marin.A man leaves a fancy hotel and waits for a cab. He is then shot to death by gunmen in a passing car. But wait! It's actually a film production at Tonart Studios of a film called The Death Kiss. But wait! Actor Myles Brent, who was supposed to die in the scene being filmed, really was shot and really is dead.At first it's thought to be a terrible accident, but screenwriter Franklyn Drew (David Manners) digs the fatal bullet out of the film set and discovers that it was a .38, while all of the prop guns the gangsters were using were .45 caliber. Suspicion then falls on Chalmers, an extra and once a head gaffer at the studio who had a grudge against Brent. Chalmers is found dead in an apparent suicide but Drew, who is conducting his own investigation as an amateur sleuth and is well ahead of the police, quickly figures out that it was murder.Finally the cops zero in on Marcia Lane, Brent's ex-wife and his co-star in the film. Franklyn Drew however has taken a shine to Marcia, and so he resolves to clear her name and find the real killer.This film reunited three of the stars of Dracula: Manners, Edward Van Sloan as Avery the director, and Bela Lugosi as Steiner the production chief.
 The Death Kiss
fetched
2023-10-15T20:49:51Z
 The Death Kiss
parsed
2023-10-15T20:49:51Z
 The Death Kiss
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Death Kiss / int_2be15316
type
Ambiguously Jewish
 The Death Kiss / int_2be15316
comment
Ambiguously Jewish: Although really it's not that ambiguous. Studio head Leon Grossmith is named "Leon Grossmith", talks with a vaguely foreign accent, and says stuff like "Oy, that's going to cost me a fortune!", because presumably All Jews Are Cheapskates.
 The Death Kiss / int_2be15316
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_2be15316
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_2be15316
 The Death Kiss / int_304e16ed
type
Smithical Marriage
 The Death Kiss / int_304e16ed
comment
Smithical Marriage: The security guard snarks that the Cliffside Inn is where people check in under Smithical Marriages for illicit trysts. Sure enough, Franklyn learns that Brent took another man's wife there and registered as "Mr. and Mrs. Brent."
 The Death Kiss / int_304e16ed
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_304e16ed
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_304e16ed
 The Death Kiss / int_53b84f6d
type
Proscenium Reveal
 The Death Kiss / int_53b84f6d
comment
Proscenium Reveal: The opening scene has a nattily-dressed gentleman go down in a hail of bullets, only to show that it's a film in production. However that scenario is tweaked when the "dead" man, Myles Brent, is revealed to be actually dead.
 The Death Kiss / int_53b84f6d
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_53b84f6d
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_53b84f6d
 The Death Kiss / int_59907e4f
type
Police Are Useless
 The Death Kiss / int_59907e4f
comment
Police Are Useless: Lt. Sheehand and the homicide detectives are incompetent dummies, who fall for every misdirection and basically have to be led around by Franklyn.
 The Death Kiss / int_59907e4f
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_59907e4f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_59907e4f
 The Death Kiss / int_ae3d6438
type
Deadpan Snarker
 The Death Kiss / int_ae3d6438
comment
Deadpan Snarker: Franklyn, who is usually snarking about how dumb the police are. Like when the cops are pinning the blame on Chalmers, and Franklyn says "Why not pin the murder on the murderer? It's not against the rules."
 The Death Kiss / int_ae3d6438
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_ae3d6438
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_ae3d6438
 The Death Kiss / int_bb0a2242
type
No-Tell Motel
 The Death Kiss / int_bb0a2242
comment
No-Tell Motel: Franklyn's investigation leads him to the Cliffside Inn, a motel that a security guard says is "one of those weekend places for all of the Mr. Smiths and Mr. Jones and Mr. Browns." The desk clerk says "Alone?" in a tone of surprise when he sees Franklyn.
 The Death Kiss / int_bb0a2242
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_bb0a2242
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_bb0a2242
 The Death Kiss / int_bbb3a5a0
type
Splash of Color
 The Death Kiss / int_bbb3a5a0
comment
Splash of Color: Some dramatic elements, like flashlights, a fire, and the muzzle flashes from guns during the climax, are shown in color. This was done by hand-tinting the film.
 The Death Kiss / int_bbb3a5a0
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_bbb3a5a0
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_bbb3a5a0
 The Death Kiss / int_c16b3149
type
Going by the Matchbook
 The Death Kiss / int_c16b3149
comment
Going by the Matchbook: Franklin goes through the pockets of Myles's coat (because the police were too dumb to think of this) and finds a key to a room at the Cliffside Inn up the coast. He goes there and discovers that Brent visited there with another man's wife.
 The Death Kiss / int_c16b3149
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_c16b3149
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_c16b3149
 The Death Kiss / int_c2393191
type
Show Within a Show
 The Death Kiss / int_c2393191
comment
Show Within a Show: In-Universe Tonart production The Death Kiss, which, from the single scene we see, is apparently a gangster picture.
 The Death Kiss / int_c2393191
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_c2393191
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_c2393191
 The Death Kiss / int_d51263b9
type
Fake Shemp
 The Death Kiss / int_d51263b9
comment
Fake Shemp: In-Universe. Still needing to finish the last scene and with Brent dead, Steiner suggests they use his body double. They do, and they finish the movie.
 The Death Kiss / int_d51263b9
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_d51263b9
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_d51263b9
 The Death Kiss / int_dcb40127
type
The Killer Was Left-Handed
 The Death Kiss / int_dcb40127
comment
The Killer Was Left-Handed: Chalmers is found dead at his kitchen table, having drunk poison, with a suicide note and a pencil in his hand. Except that the pencil was in his right hand, and he wore a watch on his right wrist, showing that he was left-handed. Chalmers was murdered!
 The Death Kiss / int_dcb40127
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_dcb40127
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_dcb40127
 The Death Kiss / int_e3048d1b
type
Amateur Sleuth
 The Death Kiss / int_e3048d1b
comment
Amateur Sleuth: Franklyn Drew, the screenwriter and a mystery writer, who says "I like to dabble a bit in murder cases." He unravels the case all by himself while the cops bumble.
 The Death Kiss / int_e3048d1b
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_e3048d1b
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_e3048d1b
 The Death Kiss / int_f6f2bd52
type
Melting-Film Effect
 The Death Kiss / int_f6f2bd52
comment
Melting-Film Effect: This is shown as the crew and the cops view the raw footage of Brent's death. The killer whacked the cameraman on the head and then left a lit cigarette in the projector case in order to set fire to the film.
 The Death Kiss / int_f6f2bd52
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_f6f2bd52
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_f6f2bd52
 The Death Kiss / int_name
type
ItemName
 The Death Kiss / int_name
comment
 The Death Kiss / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 The Death Kiss / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
The Death Kiss / int_name
 The Death Kiss / int_name
itemName
The Death Kiss

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Death Kiss
hasFeature
Melting-Film Effect / int_6daabdb