Review of Kid Glove Killer

Kid Glove Killer concerns murders in connection with an effort to clean up a corrupt town. Van Heflin stars as a forensics expert who is doing the investigation to find out who is responsible. It's the first directed by Fred Zinnemann. It's a good little film but not wholly satisfying because the film seems to be wandering around with too many characters and in too many directions, at least at the start. I never clicked with any one. I also found this film to be frequently funny for all the wrong reasons. It's owing to the over done smoldering looks between Van Heflin and his female assistant…smoldering? Perhaps smoking looks. I say this because the pair are constantly smoking and doing so in the most suggestive manner I've ever seen. It's as close to clothed sex as you're likely to see. It's a one of the clearest definition of lust I've ever seen on screen. Had this film been made 25 or 30 years later they would have been doing less smoking since they would have been engaged in other physical pursuits.