"Murder by Contract" Review

 

by Daniel White

What a difference a solid screenplay makes! After playfully lambasting the middling film noir City Of Fear yesterday, I am hear to report, Murder by Contract (1958) is a vastly superior endeavor. Put together by many of the same folks who collaborated on the first flick, the notable difference is Mr. Ben Maddow. Maddow does not get a credit for his work on the film, that goes to Ben Simcoe. But it must have been the talented, Oscar nominated (The Asphalt Jungle) lefty who jazzed up this story, and turned it into the dazzler that it is.

Vince Edwards stars as Claude, an amoral cat who gets his kicks as a contractor, a killer-for-hire. After a couple of successful hits (including gutting the man who gave him his first job), he is sent to Los Angeles. There, he is handed his most difficult assignment: assassinating a Mobster's former chippie.

Anxiously waiting to testify against her mob boss beau, Billie (Caprice Toriel) is held captive by the police in her heavily-guarded Hollywood hills home. Searching for a way to gain access to the state's star witness, Claude's cool demeanor begins to unravel.

The film has the distinction of earning high praise from director Martin Scorsese. Calling it the one movie that has influenced him the most, Scorsese rightly praises its "economy of style." Murder by Contract IS an exceptional flick, well-acted, with an exciting, novel musical score composed and played by Perry Botkin. Botkin has done for the guitar what Anton Karas did for the zither in The Third Man. And done it better, I might add.

Much of the movie unfolds as Claude interacts with two henchmen who have been appointed by the mysterious Mr. Brink to keep an eye on him. Played by Herschel Bernardi and Phillip Pine, it's the edgy, often heated exchanges between the two gifted actors with the seemingly soulless Claude that galvanize the film. Pine starts calling the calculating killer Superman, as he becomes exasperated by his ubermensch rhetoric. But Claude is only a faux Nietzschian and despite all his lofty dialogue, proves to be just as fallible and flawed as the rest of us.

Directed by Irving Lerner (who I called a "hack" for helming the mediocre, City Of Fear. Sorry, Irv.), Murder by Contract is one of the most unusual films to come out of mainstream Hollywood. Released by Columbia in the waning days of the studio system, its oddball style feels more akin to European arthouse cinema than anything conjured up by Tinseltown. Up until it's weak ending, the film surprises, excites, and astounds. It's a must-see film noir that is one of the best in a genre that boasts some of filmdom's finest works.

A special shout-out to excellent acting turns by Kathie Browne as a tipsy hooker and Frances Wiley as an even tipsier loose-lipped broad with a paintbrush. With Lucien Ballard' doing his usual top-notch work as cinematographer, Murder by Contract is available on YouTube.