An old-fashioned gangster shocker-not good, but you've often seen worse.

Brutal and cynical.

And you can kiss tomorrow goodbye! Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is directed by Gordon Douglas and adapted to screenplay by Harry Brown from the novel by Horace McCoy. It stars James Cagney, Barbara Payton, Helena Carter, Ward Bond, Luther Adler and Steve Brodie. Music is by Carmen Dragon and photography by J. Peverell Marley. Ralph Cotter (Cagney), career criminal, escapes from prison and crudely murders his partner during the escape. Hooking up with Holiday Carleton (Payton), the oblivious sister of the slain partner, Cotter quickly gets back into a life of crime and violence. Will his evil deed stay a secret? How long can he keep the corrupt coppers under wraps? And is his "other" romantic relationship with Margaret Dobson (Carter) doomed to failure? Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye seems to have gotten lost in the slipstream of White Heat which was released the previous year. An undoubted classic of the gangster/crime genre, and featuring one of Cagney's greatest acting performances, White Heat has unsurprisingly dwarfed many other below par genre entries. However, while it doesn't equal the searing ferocity of White Heat, both in tone and character performance by Cagney, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a seriously hard as nails movie. Energetic from the off, film is often brutal and cynical and awash with potently memorable scenes, with some deemed as being just too much, resulting in the fi…

James Cagney positively oozes malevolence in this gritty and dark thriller. He is "Cotter", a violent man who escapes from prison with the help the rather naive "Holiday" (Barbara Peyton). Pretty soon she is putty in his hands, swiftly followed by a couple of bent cops - and before we know it, he is running quite a successful little crime syndicate with a brand new identity. A chance encounter with the wealthy socialite "Margaret Dobson" (Helena Carter) tantalises the avaricious young man, despite warnings that her father was not a man to be trifled with. Soon, she too is captivated and when he leaves "Holiday" to take up with her, it starts to look much more perilous for all concerned. This story is told by way of a courtroom retrospective, but unusually that doesn't rob the film of much of it's jeopardy. We don't know quite what happened, and to whom, until quite an effective ending that I felt quite fitting. Cagney is on great form, and with Peyton and Carter offering us fine examples of women who are just so enamoured that they cannot see past this cruel and manipulative man. There is also a solid supporting cast - Ward Bond and Luther Adler amongst them, the dialogue is tightly scripted and delivered and the whole thing has a sleazy and grizzled outlook that I found appealing and appalling in equal measure. If you like a good film noir, then this ought to pass muster.