The Killing - 1956 **

I honestly think this is one of the worst film-noirs I have ever seen. Which begs the question (as mentioned by another disgruntled reviewer on Amazon) that if this movie hadn't been made by Kubrick, would it really be so overrated? I personally don't think so, because a lot of films tend to be merited soley on the director instead of whether the production is any good or not. I was so disappointed with this, partly because I love film noir and partly because I really believed before I saw it that it would blow my socks off.

The story is of an ex-con ( Sterling Hayden, who appears to have lost all his good looks since 'Strangers on a Train') who gets a group of men together to help him pull off the biggest hiest ever seen, based around a famous race-track and it's most prized horse.

The narration is awful ( it's usually done by the main actor in films like this) and was relayed like someone talking through a newsreel and I didn't like having to be updated on exactly what was going on every few minutes as though I didn't have the capacity to work it out myself. The femme fatale (Marie Windsor) was unattractive, unpleasant, and not in the least sultry or dangerous - she was just plain mean.

Added to which there were a few mega plot inconsistancies that seemed almost punishable by death which I really can't beleive a director like Kubrick would have not focused on more.

I'll stick to my noir's of the 40s, those are the ones that really grip me.