Hayes Code Restrictions Don't Keep Murder By Contract From Being Thoroughly Chilling

There isn't much in the way of good people to be found in Murder by Contract. From the very first scene, this Irving Lerner directorial effort sets its sights on scummy criminals and never shifts away. While the proceedings never become oppressively grim, the are consistently bleak. Death abounds even for the nicer criminals we meet and our protagonist is chilling in how casually he throws around violence. Watching this kind of debauchery exist in the restrictive Hayes Code era carries a thrill. Even in the year 2020, where far more adult movies come out on a daily basis, the historical context of when Murder by Contract was released gives it a unique sensibility akin to taking a cookie from a cookie jar when your parents aren't looking.


Murder by Contract's protagonist is Claude (Vince Edwards), a killer-for-hire who doesn't act like your standard movie killer. Clean-cut, sharply dressed, constantly calm, Claude looks more like a lawyer than a murderer. But never judge a book by its cover because Claude is a cold-hearted murderer who has no problem taking out whatever targets his superiors tell him to eliminate. For his newest assignment, Claude is sent all the way out to Los Angeles to take care of a witness in a trial. Two other hitmen, Marc (Phillip Pine) and George (Herschel Bernardi), are tasked with watching over Claude and helping him out with whatever he needs. At first, helping out Claude entails tagging along with Claude as he goes sightseeing around L.A.

Eventually, Claude gets down to business, at which point he learns his target is a woman named Billie Williams (Caprice Toriel). Claude was never told that he'd have to take out a woman. That's just the first of many surprises in store for Claude as he tries to take down Williams before she can testify against his boss at a trial. Without the aid of on-screen graphic violence, Murder by Contract finds other creative ways to work up tension in its story. Intensity is primarily found in the unpredictable and complicated character of Claude, a hitman with an exceedingly warped worldview. He has some form of what he calls a moral code (he refuses to carry a gun) yet he has no trouble slitting throats at the drop of a hat.

Screenwriter Ben Simcoe has a lot of wry fun putting the audience on edge with the uncertainty over what Claude could do next. Scenes dedicated to Claude's initial days in L.A. are especially good at this as Marc wonders aloud why a supposed killer just wants to deep-sea diving. Is Claude off his nut...or is he waiting for some opportune moment? The unpredictability practically drips off the screen while Phillip Pine and Herschel Bernardi engage in highly amusing dialogue exchanges revolving around their differing perceptions of Claude. Their exchanges are enhanced by the enjoyable rapport the two share. They're like siblings who know each other all too well and that kind of dynamic leads to some of the most entertaining moments of Murder by Contract.

On the opposite end of that tone spectrum, Murder by Contract provides its most chilling scenes from director Irving Lermer getting creative with how to pull off scenes depicting murder in a movie made during the Hayes Code era. The solution lies in expertly staged scenes and some excellent editing courtesy of Carlo Lodato. An early scene of Claude hunting down a target in a barbershop concludes with Claude pulling out the razor and then walking over to his prey before we immediately cut away. The suggestions of impending gruesomeness is enough to convey all that we need to know about Claude's efficiency as a killer.

A third act scene depicting Claude hunting down Marc and George across a vast movie set similarly pushes Claude's actions off-screen while still making them vividly felt. This is especially apparent with the demise of George, which happens in a wide shot of the backlot while George's scream echoes throughout the frame. Neither Claude nor George are visible in this shot but combining this vast image with the pained noises of George visually communicates how dwarfed George was by this experienced killer. Irving Lermer's filmmaking throughout Murder by Contract showcases impressive creativity in regards to how to pull off a thriller that can still function as eerie more than sixty years after its release.