Spine 575: The Killing

We get two early Stanley Kubrick films this week, not just The Killing (1956) but also Killer's Kiss (1955). While both are New York noirs, each offers a different view of the famed director. Killer's Kiss is the last film in which Kubrick did almost everything himself: directing, shooting, producing, and writing the story from scratch. The Killing is a Hollywood production, with  Lucien Ballard behind the lens (albeit to Kubrick's chagrin), James B. Harris producing his first of several collaborations with Kubrick, and Jim Thompson adapting a Lionel White novel (albeit with Kubrick still taking the credit). The Killing has the more compelling story and experimental structure, but Killer's Kiss has the more experimental (and guerrilla) camerawork and an axe fight in a mannequin factory.