Former POW Bill Saunders (Lancaster) barely survived the war and is a man on the edge. This blows up when he kills a man in a bar fight and hides in the home of nurse Jane Wharton (Fontaine),telling her its all an accident. They fall in love and after some jail time for attacking a cop, he gets a straight job. That gets ruined when a gangster who saw the bar fight starts blackmailing him.

Fontaine and Lancaster would recreate their roles for the Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on February 21, 1949 under the title The Unafraid, which was much less offensive of a title. Indeed, there was a fight where this movie was almost called Blood On My Hands and Blood On the Moon. Lancaster was a producer, so he really struggled to keep the original title, seeing as how it was based on a book by Gerald Butler.

Norman Foster mostly directed Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto films, so this is one of his few chances to strike out and make something unique, which he does. Also, the scene where Lancaster is whipped with a cat o'nine tails 18 times was voted #43 in the book Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies.

It would have been very difficult saying no to seeing 'Blood on My Hands'. The title was so wonderfully lurid and attention-grabbing (who could resist such a film title?),the premise was a great one and Burt Lancaster, Joan Fontaine and Robert Newton have all given great performances in their respective careers before and since.

'Blood on My Hands' is definitely well worth the watch and has a lot of good to great elements. Is it a film deserving of more credit? To me it is one of those films. Didn't think though at the same time that 'Blood on My Hands' quite lived up to its title and could have done more with its premise, hence what is meant by my review summary. Much of it was there and correct, it just needed more.

Did think that it could have been more lurid and bolder, parts are a touch tame, like the chemistry between Lancaster and Fontaine that just lacked the intensity it could have done.

Some of the script could have been tauter, but faring the weakest was the ending which didn't ring true and felt rather tacked on. If a bolder ending was initially intended, it should have been intact from personal view.

Can't fault the production values however, with the moody photography being particularly striking. Norman Foster directs with flair and doesn't let the film become tedious while Miklos Rozsa's haunting music score is close to being one of his better ones. The script does intrigue and doesn't get too overly melodramatic, and the story is generally compelling and has tension despite needing more to it.

Lancaster is suitably brooding and charismatic, if not quite disappearing into the role. Fontaine is touchingly sensitive and just lovely to watch. Even better is Newton, he exaggerates at times but he was clearly relishing the role while also being sinister enough.

Overall, worth watching and pretty good, but with such a title and premise there could and should have been more. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Kiss The Blood Off My Hands was the first film that Burt Lancaster had a hand in producing, it was the first for his personal company Norma Productions. In fact to get Joan Fontaine as his co-star he had to cut her in and her production company for half and give her top billing. Lancaster would later do that with Clark Gable and Gary Cooper when he co-starred with them, this according to a recent biography on Lancaster.

This was a frustrating film for me because I think it had the potential to be a real classic. Lancaster is a disturbed World War II veteran with issues we later find out did not come from just his military service. He's got a quick temper and a propensity to use his fists first. He accidentally kills a bar owner and happens to flee into Fontaine's apartment.

Joan is a repressed woman very much akin to the character she played in her Oscar winning performance in Suspicion. She works as a nurse and has no social life. Lancaster's animal magnetism both frightens and attracts her.

Unfortunately Robert Newton playing one of his patented evil characters is a small time crook who sees what Lancaster did. His attempt to blackmail Burt into a life of crime sets the tone for the rest of the film. Newton also steals the film from both stars in the scenes he's in.

A forced and contrived Hollywood ending really ruins this film. I'd like to rate it better, all the players did their job more than competently. But if you see Kiss The Blood Off My Hands I think you'll agree with me.