Two Radically Different Films Inspired By One Classic Story

Ernest Hemingway's gripping short story The Killers has fascinated readers and filmmakers for generations. Its first screen incarnation came in 1946, when director Robert Siodmak unleashed The Killers, helping to define the film noir style and launching the careers of Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner in an archetypal masterpiece. In 1956, then-film student Andrei Tarkovsky tackled the story with a faithful 19-minute short. In 1946, Don Siegel-initially slated to direct the 1946 version-took it on, creating the first-ever made-for-TV feature, but it proved too violent for broadcast in the wake of JFK's assassination. The Criterion Collection presents all three versions of this classic tale of amorality that asks why a man silently welcomes his fate with the passivity of a man already dead.