Noir Nook: A Shadowy Baker’s Dozen – 13 Things You May Not Know About The Killers (1946)

13 Things You May Not Know About The Killers (1946)

Ask any noir fan for a list of their favorite films from the
classic era, and The Killers (1946) is likely to appear. It’s a stellar
example of this shadowy period of filmmaking, featuring such noir tropes as the
femme fatale, the hapless fallen hero, a painterly use of shadows and light,
and flashbacks (in spades!).

Directed by Robert Siodmak, the film centers on the efforts
of an insurance investigator (Edmund O’Brien) to unearth the circumstances that
led to the murder of ex-boxer Ole Andreson (Burt Lancaster) by two hitmen (Charles
McGraw and William Conrad). A series of flashbacks introduce a motley crew of
characters, including Ole’s duplicitous girlfriend, Kitty (Ava Gardner), and
the members of a gang Ole joins to pull off a can’t-miss payroll heist, headed
by “Big Jim” Colfax (Albert Dekker).

This month’s Noir Nook celebrates this first-rate offering from the classic noir era by serving up 13 things you may not have known about this famous film.

• The Killers was inspired by the 1927 short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The story focused on the two hitmen of the film’s title; the small-town diner they enter in search of their target, Ole Andreson; and Nick Adams, a local resident who warns Ole of the impending danger. The short story ends after Ole indicates that he’s weary of running and Nick decides to leave the small town behind.

• The screen rights were purchased from Hemingway
  by producer Mark Hellinger, who had recently left Warner Bros. for Universal.
  Hemingway agreed to sell for $36,750, on the condition that Hellinger advertise
  the selling price as $50,000. Hellinger reportedly went Hemingway one better and
  told the press that he paid $75,000.

• The screenplay for the film was credited to
  Anthony Veiller (who was also the screenwriter for The Stranger [1946]
  and The Night of the Iguana [1964]), but several others had a hand in
  the finished product, including John Huston, Mark Hellinger, and screenwriter-turned-director
  Richard Brooks. According to Ava Gardner biographer Lee Server, Brooks had
  tracked down Ernest Hemingway to ask him what happened after Ole’s killing, and
  Hemingway responded, “How the hell do I know!” It was Brooks’s idea to focus
  the story on the insurance investigator who tracks down the facts in the Ole’s
  murder.

• A second adaptation of Hemingway’s short story
  was released in 1964, with the same name. The two hitmen were played by Lee
  Marvin and Clu Galagher, and the film was directed by Don Siegel.

• To direct the 1946 film, Hellinger tapped Robert
  Siodmak, who author Imogen Sara Smith calls “probably the director most
  associated with film noir . . . one of the great masters” of the classic noir
  era. Siodmak also helmed Phantom Lady (1944), Christmas Holiday (1944),
  The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945), The Dark Mirror (1946),
  Cry of the City (1948), Criss Cross (1949), and The File on
  Thelma Jordon (1950).

• Ava Gardner was cast in the role of Kitty
  Collins after another Universal producer, Walter Wanger, spotted her in the
  George Raft starrer, Whistle Stop, released in early 1946.

• Lots of changes to the film’s script were requested
  by the Hays Office (also known as the Breen Office), which was responsible for
  enforcing the Motion Picture Production Code. The requested changes included
  that Ole Andreson should not be shown stripped to the waist, that scenes of characters
  drinking liquor be eliminated, and that a scene showing the insurance
  investigator in the “ladies’ lounge” only be allowed if there were no women
  present and no indications that the lounge contained a room with toilets in it.

• Virginia Christine, who some may remember as the
  spokesperson for Folgers Coffee in the 1960s and 1970s, is featured in the 1946
  version of The Killers as Ole’s girlfriend (before he meets Kitty
  Collins). Christine also appeared in the1964 remake, as a blind secretary.

• Also among the film’s supporting cast was Jeff
  Corey, who played a fidgety hood known as Blinky Franklin. In Corey’s best
  scene in the film, his character is seen on his deathbed, hallucinating about
  his role in the payroll robbery. According to Corey, this scene served as his
  audition for the picture: “Afterward, the film’s director whispered to me, ‘You
  got the part,’” Corey said in a 2001 interview. “It was a thrilling thing to
  do. An interesting part – a wonderful movie.”

• Burt Lancaster’s part in The Killers marked his screen debut and turned him into a star. He was 32 years old. Others considered for the role included Van Heflin and Sonny Tufts. Lancaster once said that Hellinger hired him for the part because “I was the cheapest thing in town.”

• The makeup in the film was provided courtesy of Universal’s Jack Pierce, who was much better known as the designer of the studio’s stable of monsters, including Dracula, Frankenstein and his bride, The Mummy, and the Wolf Man. The year after the premiere of The Killers, Pierce was replaced at Universal by Bud Westmore. There are a number of theories on why he was released, but it’s commonly held that Pierce was set in his ways and the studio wanted someone with newer, faster methods.

• Artist Edward Hopper’s most famous painting, Nighthawks, was reportedly inspired by Hemingway’s short story.

• The film’s score was composed by Miklós Rózsa; whenever the two killers of the title appear, the audience hears a theme that was later expanded and adapted as the familiar music in TV’s Dragnet.

And that’s it! I hope this list contained at least a few tidbits that you didn’t already know. Stay tuned for future Noir Nooks for trivia on your favorite noirs!

…

– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
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