framethrowerSign up for free

The Killing (1956)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick · Cinematography by Lucien Ballard

Approved84 min61 frames

CrimeThriller

In all its fury and violence...

IMDbWatch on Amazon

Stills, screencaps & shots from The Killing

16 of 61 frames — the full set is searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, color and mood with a free account.

The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — A crowded airport ticket counter has several informational signs suspended from the ceiling. Three men and…The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — A dim room features patterned wallpaper and a metal-framed bed under a wall lamp. A man sits by a woman…The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — A dimly lit room with blinds covering a large window at the back. A man and a woman rest on a bed while…The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — A man and woman stand close together in front of a translucent window curtain. The couple engages in a…The Killing (1956) movie still: wide — A dark airfield at night features a large hangar with illuminated windows. Confetti or paper drifts through…The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — A dimly lit interior space features a man positioned near a glowing table lamp. Deep shadows obscure the…The Killing (1956) movie still: closeup — A cluster of three metal megaphone speakers mounted to a single vertical pole. The assembly is silhouetted…The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — A dark, shadows-filled room features a woman and man engaged in a serious conversation. The woman looks up…The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — A field at a racetrack with a large grandstand visible in the distance. One man stands by a convertible,…The Killing (1956) movie still: fullbody — A spacious, littered locker room floor features a crowd of spectators in the background. A large…The Killing (1956) movie still: wide — A dark concrete tunnel leads out to a bright, sunlit horse racing track. A lone rider on horseback walks away…The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — An outdoor location featuring a light-colored building and a chain-link fence with foliage. A soldier in…The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — A dimly lit room features patterned wallpaper and a ceiling with window-pane shadows. A man holding a…The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — A dark living room with floral wallpaper and a curtained window. Three men stand together holding their…The Killing (1956) movie still: closeup — A dimly lit room with textured wallpaper and foreground vertical obstructions framing the shot. A man in a…The Killing (1956) movie still: medium — A dark indoor space is illuminated only by a lamp in the foreground. A man and a woman stand facing each…
The Killing (1956) — © United Artists, Harris-Kubrick Productions

The Killing — official trailer

What is The Killing about?

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.

The Killing is a 1956 American film noir directed by Stanley Kubrick and produced by James B. Harris. It was written by Kubrick and Jim Thompson and based on Lionel White's novel Clean Break. It stars Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, and Vince Edwards, and features Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Jay C. Flippen and Timothy Carey.

Second paragraph from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where can you watch The Killing?

US availability for The Killing (1956). Data by JustWatch, listings on TMDB. Availability changes — check the provider for current listings.

Who stars in The Killing?

Who made The Killing?

What does the cinematography of The Killing look like?

Across 61 sampled frames, medium shots dominate the coverage of The Killing (70% of the sample). Cinematographer Lucien Ballard keeps 44% of it in hard-edged, low-key light. 46% of the frames play at night or in the failing light of dusk. Vintage glass shapes the frame. Focus stays shallow in 69% of the frames, isolating subjects from their surroundings. The production design places the film in the 1950s.

What is the color palette of The Killing?

The dominant colors across the sampled frames of The Killing (1956) are #010101, #8b8b8b, #323232, #cacaca, #6e6e6e, #fcfcfc — measured from the per-frame color data FrameThrower extracts for every film.

  • #010101
  • #8b8b8b
  • #323232
  • #cacaca
  • #6e6e6e
  • #fcfcfc

See the full The Killing colour palette — every hex with its share, plus warmth, saturation and luminance.

The Killing ranks in

A reference database for filmmakers

FrameThrower is a fully machine-searchable film database and visual reference library — all 61 frames of The Killing (1956), and 5,000+ films besides, indexed frame by frame and readable by AI. Search it in plain language, from a reference image, or by colour; call it from an API, an MCP server or an SDK. It's the reference layer for making the next movie.

Techniques in this film

More films by Stanley Kubrick

More Crime films

Cast, trailer and streaming data from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.