12. Killer's Kiss (1955)
Killer's Kiss follows an early obsession of Kubrick, boxing. The film is about Davey Gordon's relationship with his neighbour and her violent boss. The film also paved the way for Kubrick's love and demand for final cut privilege, for United Artists demanded that Killers Kiss be released with a happy ending, against the director's wishes. The film was received with mix reviews at the time, and whilst being a good noir, it's not a great Kubrick picture. It stars Irene Kane who didn't quite achieve any level of fame in cinema, instead being regarded more so as a celebrity biographer. Her co-star was Jamie Smith and Frank Silvera, the wonderful character actor known as "the man with a thousand faces." The film was again financed by Kubrick's uncle, now in the range of $40,000. As would become common Kubrick did most of the work, immersing himself in directing, producing, shooting, editing and cinematography and also trying his hand at writing alongside Howard Sackler.