Film Notes: Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly (1955) film notes by Tova Gannana for the L.A. Noir: Shadows in Paradise series, presented by Greg Olson Productions. The series runs September to November 2025 at SIFF Cinema Uptown. 

In the beginning, there is breath: a woman gasping in the wilderness on a long stretch of road, her curls closely cut, a trench coat her only cover, barefoot as though she has tumbled out of somewhere. The highway she is on is far from the city. Luck comes in waves: She’s picked up by Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker). Her name is Christina Bailey (Cloris Leachman), a fact to be found out later. Kiss Me Deadly (1955) is a puzzle of disembodied voices: Threats are made over the telephone, a man sings opera in his one-room apartment, a bird is set free “because it reminded me of her every time it sang.” A key in the mouth of a corpse leads to a box in a locker at the Hollywood Athletic Club. Manhattan Project, Los Alamos, and Trinity are names that will be invoked. A kiss is spoken of as anything but gentle.

“Somebody might blow you a kiss.” Velda Wickman (Maxine Cooper) warns Mike to stay away from his window. Velda is Mike’s employee who would rather be his partner. Mike is a private detective for divorce cases; Velda acts as the bait. Velda is also a dancer. She winds herself around a ballet barre as she tells Mike, “First you find a little thread, a little thread leads you to a string, a string leads you to a rope, from the rope you hang by the neck.” Mike is certain that the hitchhiker that he picked up was involved in something that could bring forth a big profit. There are three women in the film: Velda, Christina, and Lily Carver (Gabrielle Rosenberg), Christina’s former roommate. Lily, barefoot with short hair wearing a bathrobe, also takes a ride with Mike. Lily claims that she – like Christina was – is in danger. “Don’t you want to get even?” Mike asks her. The way Lily lays on the bed, her hip in the air, after Mike leaves, tells us that she already has.

There are three sets of men in Kiss Me Deadly: Mike and his mechanic friend Nick Va-Va-Voom (Nick Dennis); a crime syndicate headed by Carl Evello (Paul Stewart) and Dr. Soberin (Albert Dekker); and the Interstate Crime Commission headed by Lt. Pat Murphy (Wesley Addy). They all have in common a contempt for one another’s work. Lt. Murphy enters Mike’s apartment without being let in and pours himself a drink without being offered. Carl and Dr. Soberin want to know what Christina told Mike in the car before they killed her. Mike wants to know what it is that they are all after. Names are clues too: Lily Carver turns out to be an impersonator, and Dr. Soberin does not adhere to the Hippocratic oath. Mike Hammer, though, is nails to wood evening and morning; it’s just that he’s using the wrong blueprint.

The box is the answer, and also the source of the confusion: Mike believes it’s a treasure chest, Lily believes it’s worth committing murder. The light from the box is blindingly bright, but what it harbors is absolute darkness. Dr. Soberin is the key: He knows the box’s origin and destination, but in the final scene, he doesn’t last long enough to finish his sentence.

Things that don’t go unnoticed: Velda’s longing looks in Mike’s direction whenever he looks away. Head honcho Carl in a Lacoste polo buttoned up to his neck. “I like you, Mike,” he says, friendly as an alligator. Mike Hammer being called alternately “Mike” and “Hammer”. Mike brushing his hair back. Mike without a piece, but always with a smirk. The closer Mike gets, the less he is certain. Like a surfer, he circles the waves, knowing there are sharks in the water. Christina and Lily both go barefoot while the men wear shoes. Shoes line a pool room while the men outside lean tensely in the sunshine. Named by Velda “the great whatsit,” the box is a traveller, a stowaway, a promise, and an enabler. It is not human, but it is a creation of humanity. The box is hot to the touch and hisses when opened, is made of metal, and whatever’s inside it is violent and meant for the future.

We hear the voice of Velda on Mike’s answering machine, the voices of the boxing match announcers on the radio, the voice of Dr. Soberin who speaks in poetic cadences, and Mike’s memory of Christina pleading him to “remember me”. We hear footsteps following Mike on concrete, curt greetings of rooming house managers – “Who are you?” “What do you want?” – and Nick and his phrase “Va-va voom!” pepper the film like a benediction.

Mike climbs his way through Los Angeles by way of the city’s staircases. Christina read poetry and always had her radio tuned to the classical music station. The actress who played Lily Carver is the only cast member still alive; as a child she played marbles in Amsterdam with Anne Frank. It turns out that the truth is all about remembering: A city can be like a memory. All three places the box belongs are outside the city limits. Dr. Soberin warns Lily that the box is like the head of Medusa, Lot’s wife, Pandora. His are ancient, biblical references. Lt. Murphy places the box in the American West: Manhattan Project, Los Alamos, Trinity. Lily doesn’t listen, but Mike does.

The crime syndicate and the Interstate Crime Commission lose steam. They disappear from the last pages of the script. The box can’t open or close itself. Lily and the beach house hideaway go up in flames. Velda, barefoot, looks back as she carries Mike, who has been shot and is bleeding, down the beach.