''Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye'' is a 1950

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

starring

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...

, directed by Gordon Douglas, produced by

William Cagney William Jerome Cagney (March 26, 1905 – January 3, 1988) was an American film producer and actor, remembered for roles in the Monogram Pictures films ''Lost in the Stratosphere'' and ''Flirting with Danger'', both filmed in 1934. Career He ...

and based on the novel by

Horace McCoy Horace Stanley McCoy (April 14, 1897 – December 15, 1955) was an American writer whose mostly hardboiled stories took place during the Great Depression. His best-known novel is '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' (1935), which was made into ...

. The film was banned in Ohio as "a sordid, sadistic presentation of brutality and an extreme presentation of crime with explicit steps in commission." Supporting Cagney are

Luther Adler Luther Adler (born Lutha Adler; May 4, 1903 – December 8, 1984) was an American actor best known for his work in theatre, but who also worked in film and television. He also directed plays on Broadway. Early life and career Adler was born on ...

as a crooked lawyer, and

Ward Bond Wardell Edwin Bond (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 200 films and starred in the NBC television series ''Wagon Train'' from 1957 to 1960. Among his best-remembered roles are Ber ...

and

Barton MacLane Barton MacLane (December 25, 1902 – January 1, 1969) was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, including his role as General Martin Peterson on the 1960s NBC ...

as two crooked cops.

Plot

Ralph Cotter is a

career criminal A habitual offender, repeat offender, or career criminal is a person convicted of a crime who was previously convicted of crimes. Various state and jurisdictions may have laws targeting habitual offenders, and specifically providing for enhanced o ...

who, while escaping from a prison work camp, kills his escape partner, Carleton. On the outside, Cotter ultimately woos Carleton's sister, Holiday, by threatening to expose the fact that she was involved in arranging the prison break. Holiday does not know that Cotter killed her brother. There are hints of a sado-masochistic bond between the two in a scene where Cotter is provoked to whip Holiday with a wet towel, after which she passionately embraces him. Cotter quickly gets back into the crime game—only to be shaken down by corrupt local cops. Things become more complicated with each plan and worsen when he turns the tables on the bad cops. Finally, Holiday discovers that Cotter killed her brother and that he is dumping her for a wealthy young heiress. She is thrown into a violent rage.

Cast

as Ralph Cotter *

Barbara Payton Barbara Lee Payton (born Barbara Lee Redfield; November 16, 1927 – May 8, 1967) was an American film actress best known for her stormy social life and battles with alcoholism and drug addiction. Her life has been the subject of several bo ...

as Holiday Carleton * Helena Carter as Margaret Dobson *

as Insp. Charles Weber *

as Keith 'Cherokee' Mandon *

as Lt. John Reece * Steve Brodie as Joe 'Jinx' Raynor * Rhys Williams as Vic Mason *

Herbert Heyes Herbert Harrison Heyes (August 3, 1889 – May 31, 1958) was an American film actor. He appeared in nearly 100 films between 1915 and 1956, including the famed 1947 film ''Miracle on 34th Street'', in which he played an ahistorical "Mr. Gimbel, ...

as Ezra Dobson *

John Litel John Beach Litel (December 30, 1892 – February 3, 1972) was an American film and television actor. Early life Litel was born in Albany, Wisconsin. During World War I, he enlisted in the French Army and was twice decorated for bravery. Ba ...

as Police Chief Tolgate *

William Frawley William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best remembered for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', "Bub" O'Casey in the television comedy series ...

as Byers * Gordon Richards as the Butler (uncredited) *

Neville Brand Lawrence Neville Brand (August 13, 1920 – April 16, 1992) was an American soldier and actor. He was known for playing villainous or antagonistic character roles in Westerns, crime dramas, and ''films noir'', and was nominated for a BAFTA Aw ...

as Carleton, (Holiday’s Brother) (uncredited)

Production

Development

''Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye'' was based on a bestselling novel by Horace McCoy that was published in 1948.

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...

and Robert Lord were interested in securing the film rights before the novel's publication, but in November 1949, the film rights were sold to William Schiffrin, an independent producer. In February 1950, the Cagney brothers bought the film rights. In March 1950, Barbara Payton was cast. Helena Carter joined the cast in April. Filming began on April 14, 1950 at

General Service Studios Sunset Las Palmas Studios, formerly General Service Studios and Hollywood Center Studios, is an American independent entertainment production lot located at 1040 North Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, providing stage facil ...

. ''Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye'' was the first of four movies that the Cagney brothers made for Warner Bros. James Cagney said that he and his brother entered into a deal in which they gave the banks the first $500,000 that the film made, in order to pay back debts from ''The Time of Your Lives''. The Cagneys liked Douglas' work and signed him to a multi-picture contract. This was the second film in which Cagney appeared with William Frawley (

Fred Mertz Frederick Hobart Mertz, played by William Frawley, is a fictional character in the 1950s American sitcom ''I Love Lucy''. Character Fred was born and raised on a farm in the Midwest; in one episode, Ethel says that Fred's mother comes to visit on ...

from ''

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...

''), following 1937's ''

Something to Sing About "Something to Sing About" (actual title: "This Land of Ours") is one of Canada's national songs, a patriotic song written by folk singer Oscar Brand that sings the praises of the many different regions of Canada. It has some similarities to "Sco ...

''.

Restoration/rerelease

In 2011, the film was restored by the

UCLA Film & Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archiv ...

in cooperation with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, funded by the

Packard Humanities Institute The Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) is a non-profit foundation, established in 1987, and located in Los Altos, California, which funds projects in a wide range of conservation concerns in the fields of archaeology, music, film preservation, an ...

. The new print was made "from the original 35mm nitrate picture and track negatives and a 35mm safety print." The restoration premiered at the UCLA Festival of Preservation on March 14, 2011.

Reception

Critical response

Though often compared unfavorably to ''

White Heat ''White Heat'' is a 1949 American film noir directed by Raoul Walsh and starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly and Steve Cochran. Written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, ''White Heat'' is based on a story by Vi ...

'', ''Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye'' received mixed reviews. Critic Fred Camper, in ''

The Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

'', criticized the film's directing, writing: "Gordon Douglas's direction is almost incoherent compared to

Raoul Walsh Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. He w ...

's in ''White Heat'' (1949), which features Cagney in a similar role; the compositions and camera movements, while momentarily effective, have little relationship to each other, and the film reads a bit like an orchestra playing without a conductor." Film critic Dennis Schwartz generally liked the film and wrote: "This is an energetic straightforward crime drama based on the book by Horace McCoy ('' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'') and the screen play, which hardly makes sense and is the root of the film's problems, is by Harry Brown. Gordon M. Douglas (''

Come Fill the Cup ''Come Fill the Cup'' is a 1951 film starring James Cagney and Gig Young, directed by Gordon Douglas. Young's performance was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Cagney plays an alcoholic newspaperman. He has a memorable li ...

''/''

Only the Valiant ''Only the Valiant'', also known as ''Fort Invincible'', is a 1951 American Western (genre), Western film produced by William Cagney (younger brother of James Cagney), directed by Gordon Douglas (director), Gordon Douglas and starring Gregory P ...

'') helms it by keeping it fast-paced, brutal and cynical, and lets star James Cagney pick up where he left off in the year earlier ''White Heat'' as an unsympathetic mad dog killer. This was an even tougher film, but the crowds did not respond to it as favorably as they did to ''White Heat'' (which seems odd, since it is basically the same type of B-movie)."Schwartz, Dennis
. ''Ozus' World Movie Reviews,'' film review, January 23, 2007. Last accessed: February 11, 2010. '' Filmink'' said: "Both Payton and Carter are a little too attractive looking for pudgy old Cagney, who was pushing fifty at the time – did he ever play such a stud muffin? It’s the biggest flaw in an otherwise solid gangster story."

References

External links

* * * *
''Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye''
analysis by film journalist John O'Dowd at Film Noir of the Week
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
at Letterbox DVD *
Review of film
at Variety {{Gordon Douglas 1950 films 1950 crime films American crime thriller films American black-and-white films Film noir Films based on American novels Films directed by Gordon Douglas Films scored by Carmen Dragon Warner Bros. films Films with screenplays by Harry Brown (writer) 1950s thriller films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films