Once You Kiss a Stranger...

Overbaked nonsense from Warner Bros. is one steaming pile of clichés. Pro-golfer Paul Burke, separated from his wife and troubled by his perennial second-place status on the golf course, meets up with seductive woman-child Carol Lynley; she murders his main opponent and then blackmails Burke with the proviso he kill her psychiatrist in return (seems Carol has just been released from a mental institution and is due back for another stay at any moment). The tacky screenplay was "suggested by" Patricia Highsmith's book "Strangers on a Train", first filmed by Warners in 1951. This quasi-remake actually has an interesting set-up, but Burke looks dumbfounded throughout and overripe vixen Lynley is just ludicrous (the actress probably thought this kitten-with-claws number would showcase her haughty appeal, but instead she's cruelly exposed and completely without substance). This has to be one of the worst-edited films from a major studio I have ever seen, with redundant, laughable shots of streetlights changing and Carol Lynley going crazy with a reel-to-reel machine. The filmmakers know nothing about the world of pro-tournament golf, and even less about murder investigations and police business, giving this dunderhead opus a campy undermining which may play with fans of second-string cinema. *1/2 from ****