Kiss of Death

Late '40s Fox saw several attempts to conceal the split in the gangster film between noir expressionism and 'procedural' authenticity, but few as bizarre as this. Mature is the stool-pigeon torn apart by two kinds of family loyalty: the Mob and the Missus. Widmark debuts as a psycho hood with an unforgettable chuckle and a nice line in helping wheelchair-ridden old ladies down stairs. Of its period, of course, but extraordinarily modern too: nighttime New York peopled only by daylight's misfits (à la The Warriors); and when Mature's wife kills herself, a neighbour happily takes her place.