The Honeymoon Killers [Criterion Collection]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler) is a lonely nurse who takes care of her invalid mother in Mobile, Alabama. Starved for affection, she places an ad in a lonely hearts column and soon receives a letter from Ray Fernandez (Tony LoBianco). He meets her and runs off with her dowry to New York City. Martha puts her mother in a nursing home and follows the handsome con artist. She agrees to pose as his sister as the two fleece lonely, unsuspecting women out of their money. Martha's jealousies of Ray's victims leads to murder. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, an elderly matron is killed and her child is drowned in a washing machine. Martha considers confessing to the police when she finally realizes Ray will never be true to her or any other woman. The story was taken from actual events, and the real-life couple were eventually executed in Sing Sing prison in 1951. The black-and-white photography adds an aura of authenticity to the documentary-style production. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Features:
  • cc
  • New high-definition digital transfer, enhanced for widescreen televisions
  • New video interview with writer/director Leonard Kastle
  • Illustrated essay by Scott Christianson ("Condemned: Inside the Sing Sing Death House") about the true crime story of "Lonely Hearts" killers, Ray Fernandez and Martha Beck
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Cast and crew biographies by film historian Bruce Eder
  • New essay by critic Gary Giddins
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
  • Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Shirley Stoler - Martha Beck
       Tony Lo Bianco - Raymond Fernandez
       Dortha Duckworth - Mrs. Beck
       Doris Roberts - Bunny
       Marilyn Chris - Myrtle Young
       Mary Jane Higbee - Janet Fay
       Kip McArdle - Delphine Downing
       Mary Breen - Rainelle Downing
       Barbara Cason - Evelyn Long
       Ann Harris - Doris Acker
       Guy Sorel - Mr. Dranoff
       William Adams - Justice of the Peace
       Michael Haley - Jackson
       Elsa Raven - Matron

• Director:

  Leonard Kastle

• Producer:

  Warren Steibel

• Screenwriter:

  Leonard Kastle

• Cinematographer:

  Oliver Wood

• Featured Music:

  Gustav Mahler

• Editor:

  Richard Brophy

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Fred Kamiel

REVIEW:

• Leonard Kastle's sole directorial credit, The Honeymoon Killers, is a stark but compelling thriller that aims a good bit higher than most horror films of its day (not many filmmakers would use Gustav Mahler to score a true-life crime story, let alone make it work), and generates a cold and darkly disturbing tone that's all its own. While The Honeymoon Killers is (purposefully) rough around the edges, Kastle uses the deep shadows of his high-contrast black-and-white camerawork and ratty low-budget art direction to conjure up a strange and troubling world where the surroundings are as flat and empty as the consciences of its protagonists. (Part of the film's look and feel might be attributed to a young Martin Scorsese, who was the film's original director, but was fired after a few days for taking too long with his set-ups.) The underappreciated Tony Lo Bianco is a fascinating mixture of greasy charm, bravado, and cowardice as serial bigamist Raymond Fernandez; Shirley Stoler is superb as Martha Beck, who seems to have been waiting all her life for Ray to come along and unleash her appetite for both sex and bloodshed; and the parade of sadly ordinary women who portray their victims look just real enough to give this a semi-documentary feel that makes the proceedings all the more uncomfortable. While far from perfect (the pacing is a bit uncertain and the dialogue sometimes clunky), The Honeymoon Killers' virtues far outweigh its flaws, and one has to wonder what else Kastle may have had to say if he'd ever had the chance to make another film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi