2014 at the Patio Theater. Television and home media On November 29, 1960, Screen Gems, a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, leased Kiss the Blood Off My Hands as part of a 75 pre-1948 Universal-International Pictures film lot (which also included Criss Cross) for television airing on CBS. The film was never officially released on VHS, laserdisc, nor DVD, but poor quality bootlegs circulated, obtained from television screenings. In March 2019, it was announced that Kino Lorber would be releasing the first official home media edition of the film on Blu-ray. The Blu-ray was scheduled for release on June 9, 2020, but was pushed back to July 14, 2020. The release featured a new 2K transfer, the original theatrical trailer, and an audio commentary by film historian Jeremy Arnold. Reception Box office Although later downplayed as a commercial failure with lukewarm critical reception (perhaps only in comparison to Norma Productions' later films), the film did fairly well at the box office for an independent production and was driven by Lancaster's quick rise to fame. At the time, Lancaster was considered a sound investment, guaranteed for at least $1,000,000 in box office revenue. Within its first week, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands had grossed over $44,000 at Loew's Criterion Theater in New York City alone and Variety ranked it fifth most successful in box office attractions for the month of November 1948. The film broke opening weekend records at The Ritz Theater in Albany, New York when it opened in mid-November 1948. In January 1949, Variety ranked it 84th in the "Top Grossers of 1948" list, having already made $1,600,000 in box office from the big cities' 1948 showings. It has not been established how much more the film grossed after rolling out to the rest of the United States (smaller towns), the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the rest of Europe throughout 1949 and the early 1950s. Critical response Kiss the Blood Off My Hands received a consistently positive critical reception. Critics variously praised every aspect of the film, from its direction and photography, to its production values, its musical score, the strength of the script as well as the acting skills of Fontaine, Lancaster and Newton. Boxoffice wrote on October 16, 1948: "This first Harold Hecht-Norma production scores a bullseye with an exciting, romantic and plausible story against striking backgrounds of bomb-shattered London after the war. The acting is