Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (film)

Ralph Cotter is a career criminal 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 sadomasochistic 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 and shoots Cotter to death.

• James Cagney as Ralph Cotter
• Barbara Payton as Holiday Carleton
• Helena Carter as Margaret Dobson
• Ward Bond as Insp. Charles Weber
• Luther Adler as Keith 'Cherokee' Mandon
• Barton MacLane as Lt. John Reece
• Steve Brodie as Joe 'Jinx' Raynor
• Rhys Williams as Vic Mason
• Herbert Heyes as Ezra Dobson
• John Litel as Police Chief Tolgate
• William Frawley as Byers
• Gordon Richards as the Butler (uncredited)
• Neville Brand as Carleton, (Holiday’s Brother) (uncredited)

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye was based on a bestselling novel by Horace McCoy that was published in 1948.{{cite news |title=Top Best Sellers |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-top-best-sellers/144158353/ |access-date=March 26, 2024 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=June 6, 1948 |pages=37 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Best Sellers in Atlanta |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-best-sellers-in/144158496/ |access-date=March 26, 2024 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |date=July 25, 1948 |pages=43}} Humphrey Bogart and Robert Lord were interested in securing the film rights before the novel's publication,{{cite news |last1=Hooper |first1=Hedda |title=Looking at Hollywood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-looking-at-hollywood-h/144158665/ |access-date=March 26, 2024 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=April 8, 1948 |pages=50}} but in November 1949, the film rights were sold to William Schiffrin, an independent producer.{{cite news |last1=Brady |first1=Thomas F. |title=FILM GROUP STARTS 'FLAGPOLE' AWARD; Industry Council Names Lady Astor as First Candidate for 'Publicity-Seeking' Prize |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/11/21/archives/film-group-starts-flagpole-award-industry-council-names-lady-astor.html |access-date=March 26, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=November 21, 1949}} In February 1950, the Cagney brothers bought the film rights.{{cite news |last1=Brady |first1=Thomas F. |title=UNIVERSAL TO FILM 2 NEW PROPERTIES; Obtains 'Bonaventure,' British Play, and 'The White Sheep' for 195O Production |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/02/13/archives/universal-to-film-2-new-properties-obtains-bonaventure-british-play.html |access-date=March 26, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=February 13, 1950}} In March 1950, Barbara Payton was cast.{{cite news |title=Movieland Briefs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-movieland-briefs/144158285/ |access-date=March 26, 2024 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=March 18, 1950 |pages=11}} Helena Carter joined the cast in April.{{cite news |title=HOLDEN GETS ROLE IN 'BORN YESTERDAY'; Named by Columbia to Play Journalist in Film Version of Garson Kanin Show |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/04/15/archives/holden-gets-role-in-born-yesterday-named-by-columbia-to-play.html |access-date=March 26, 2024 |work=The New York TImes |date=April 15, 1950}} Filming began on April 14, 1950, at General Service Studios.{{cite news |last1=Brady |first1=Thomas F. |title=CALHOUN AND NIGH GET LEADS IN FILM; Monogram Signs Them to Star in 'County Fair,' New Movie About Harness Racing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/04/14/archives/calhoun-and-nigh-get-leads-in-film-monogram-signs-them-to-star-in.html |access-date=March 26, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=April 14, 1950}}

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye was the first of four movies that the Cagney brothers made for Warner Bros.{{cite news |last1=Brady |first1=Thomas F. |title=HOLLYWOOD AGENDA; SAD SACK |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/08/06/archives/hollywood-agenda-sad-sack.html |access-date=March 26, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=August 6, 1950}} 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 Life.{{Cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/cagneybycagney00cagn/page/147 147]|first=James|last=Cagney|title=Cagney By Cagney|url=https://archive.org/details/cagneybycagney00cagn|url-access=registration|year=1977|publisher=Pocket Books|isbn=978-0-671-80889-1 }} The Cagneys liked Douglas' work and signed him to a multi-picture contract.{{cite news |title=Filmland Briefs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-filmland-briefs/144158563/ |access-date=March 26, 2024 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=June 27, 1950 |pages=31}}

In 2011, the film was restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with Paramount Pictures, funded by the Packard Humanities Institute.{{cite web |url=https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2011-03-14/cry-danger-1951-kiss-tomorrow-goodbye-1950 |title=UCLA Film & Television Archive: Cry Danger (1951) Kiss tomorrow Goodbye (1950) |access-date=2011-11-07 |author=Todd Wiener}} 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.

Though often compared unfavorably to White Heat, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye received mixed reviews. Critic Fred Camper, in The Chicago Reader, criticized the film's directing, writing: "Gordon Douglas's direction is almost incoherent compared to Raoul Walsh'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."[http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/15841_KISS_TOMORROW_GOODBYE.html Camper, Fred]. Chicago Reader, film review. Last accessed: february 11, 2010.

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/Only the Valiant) 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)."[http://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/kisstomorrowgoodbye.htm Schwartz, Dennis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326113823/http://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/kisstomorrowgoodbye.htm |date=2012-03-26 }}. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, January 23, 2007. Last accessed: February 11, 2010. William Brogdon of Variety also liked the movie, praising James Cagney's performance by giving a tough character "an occasional light touch". He also commended Douglas's direction, the musical score, and its tight editing.{{cite journal |last1=Borgdon |first1=William |title=Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye |journal=Variety |date=August 2, 1950 |volume=179 |via=Internet Archive |issue=8 |page=16 |url=https://archive.org/details/variety179-1950-08/page/n15/ |access-date=March 26, 2024}}

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."{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/helena-carter-appreciation/|title=Helena Carter: An Appreciation|date=February 14, 2020}}

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• {{AFI film|id=26383|title=Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye}}
• {{IMDb title|id=0042648|title=Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye}}
• {{TCMDb title|id=80436|title=Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080720060746/http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2008/07/kiss-tomorrow-goodbye-1950.html Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye]}} analysis by film journalist John O'Dowd at Film Noir of the Week
• [https://letterboxd.com/film/kiss-tomorrow-goodbye/ Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye] at Letterbox DVD
• {{YouTube|I1EVMx-p-_g|Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye film trailer}}
• [https://archive.org/details/variety179-1950-08/page/n15 Review of film] at Variety

{{Gordon Douglas}}

Category:1950 films

Category:1950 crime films

Category:American crime thriller films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:Film noir

Category:Films based on American novels

Category:Films directed by Gordon Douglas

Category:Films scored by Carmen Dragon

Category:Warner Bros. films

Category:Films with screenplays by Harry Brown (writer)

Category:1950s crime thriller films

Category:1950s English-language films

Category:1950s American films

Category:English-language crime thriller films