To understand great part of the symbolism of Kiss Me Deadly we should appeal to Greek mythology. On it the story of Pandora’s Box tells about how all the existing evil in the universe was uncaged and spread. The woman Pandora was told not to open the box for whatever reason but of course, Pandora’s curiosity enticed her into disobeying and thus all the evil condensed in the box was released. Key to notice is that this myth is not only referenced through subtext -the box covered of leather in Aldrich’s work is an evident quotation of Pandora while at the same time it works as a MacGuffin as it generates suspense through intrigue of what is the peril it generates if it is unveiled-, over that however this part of Greek mythology is directly mentioned as a fable so is the tale of Lot’s wife while both are compared to the curiosity of a cat:
“Curiosity killed a cat and it certainly would have you if you'd followed your impulse to open it.”
“Yes I know but what’s in it?”
“You have been misnamed, Gabrielle. You should have been called Pandora. She had a curiosity about a box and opened it and let loose all the evil in the world.”
“Never mind about the evil. What's in it?”
“Did you ever hear of Lot's wife? She was told not to look back. But she disobeyed and she was changed into a pillar of salt.”
Before the revelation we only know the object presented is greatly dangerous as it emits a heat. Our protagonist called Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) lifts the lid making an intense light with sounds or better said screams coming from inside the box be revealed, Tarantino will quote this in Pulp Fiction and use it as another MacGuffin.
When Hammer reveals us the existence of this box we don’t know its content and remain without knowing it until the ending but Aldrich already assured us something: opening it can bring irreparable damage as Hammer got burnt without even opening it fully. Even though we have scarce information of the briefcase we have enough to already associate the symbolism of it: the heat, bright glow, and screaming voices in despair are all characteristics that we can associate with how hell is commonly depicted, the same mentioned is generally related with punishment and sorrow.
Aldrich is trying to create a similarity in between the content of the briefcase and hell, this idea only gains more strength when Lily ends up opening it during the climax. However is not a mere association with sorrow that becomes a meaningless token, on the contrary it carries a relevant critique. Kiss Me Deadly came in 1955, exactly during the decade when cold war paranoia was prominent due to the emergence of nuclear weapons. Although the mysterious content is not truly revealed we do get to see its consequences and on my eyes it is clear that it represents the newly discovered nuclear weapons. We can assume this as during the development of the story, the box is mentioned to be related with a secret government experiment akin to the “Manhattan Project”.
Obviously this is trying to draw comparison to man made nuclear weapons which detonation and highly destructive consequences will be triggered if the box is opened. Notice however that while it is hold by Dr. Soberin, is not his intention to derail the world to catastrophic events, his only purpose is to raise money from it. This is evident on his very last words “you must not open the box”, he has concern over its consequences as he knows how destructive it can be, but while he doesn’t want that it is used for destruction he is also carefree on the consequences of selling it. This means Dr. Soberin asumes he is washing his hands of guilt if he doesn’t open it and warns its danger while he is also serving a dangerous tool to whoever pays him well, his actions are as contradictory as they sound proving he like other characters is blind because of greed.
Due to a twist of the events, Dr. Soberin ends up dead as Lily shot him because she wanted to receive the profit of the box, this makes Lily have possession over the box. Despite the advertisement of Dr. Soberin she ends up opening it which displays a poignant imagery: she is literally taken by this symbolic hell.
Is in these last minutes of the film where its commentary is clearly evidenced: this catastrophe is “released” due to greed and curiosity. Greed got the briefcase into the wrong hands (Lily) and curiosity disobeyed logic and opened it. Is clear what statement Aldrich is aiming at, he believes that destructive weaponry in the hands of man is too hazardous, is something beyond the capacity of mankind due to the seemingly inherent greed and curiosity of the human being, not only that but he is criticizing how the mix of these qualities backfire to us as weapons. We can compare this as well by looking no further to the story of Adam and Eve, it was their disobedience moved by greed (as they desired the promises gained by lies that the Snake put in their minds) and curiosity (of what the forbidden fruit could be capable of doing) what brought them and to an extent all mankind to our own doom.
We have a highly compelling story while developing a great arcuate commentary. And as a film noir of course we find the basic characteristics of it that are noticeably put into a great effect like the incorporation of a MacGuffing as I explained prior something that can be spotted in other noirs like The Maltese Falcon, the use of dutch angles, low and high angles.
Dutch angle
However is noticeable that above dutch angles, there’s a clear predominance of high ones. These are put to great use as they serve to create a highly atmospheric ride. Notice how for example in the shot bellow this helps to shows us the picture from the perspective of an apparently existing third character that is involved in the story, this blatant subjective perspective is not done to create an intimate connection to the characters as technically we don’t see the picture from neither of their perspectives however is done to create suspense as it mimics a third character is following the steps of our lead roles. As a high angle indicates subjectivity and is opposed to for example eye level shots that prevail a neutral perspective, Aldrich is intentionally rejecting the mentioned effect to create atmosphere.
Revealing a character for suspense effect
Create disjunction
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), John Ford
Mirrors have a great thematic relevance in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960)