Everything about KID GLOVE KILLER is extremely dated. And yet it's fun to watch VAN HEFLIN and MARSHA HUNT go about solving a crime using old techniques and spouting a lot of artificial dialog, 1940s style.
Both of them also smoke frequently. "Match me," becomes a standard line. A cast of standard MGM B-players keeps things going nicely as Heflin and Marsh investigate the murder of a politician, when all the time we know who the killer is--LEE BOWMAN. Bowman is one of those actors who never quite made it to big time stardom, but he's completely at home here in the role of a ruthless heel.
All of the suspense in a story of this kind lies in wondering how the killer will be caught--since he's very manipulative and very cunning. His charm makes his criminal nature very deceptive to both Bowman and Hunt.
Favorite line: "Just bury me with one of your swell hamburgers on my chest." Reply: "With onions?"
If you watch carefully, you can spot BOBBY BLAKE as a youngster listening to a car radio and AVA GARDNER as a car-hop waitress.
This one, and GRAND CENTRAL MURDER made the same year, are well worth watching and nicely directed by Fred Zinnemann who later went on to A-film assignments.