The Kiss (1929)

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Movie
German title The kiss
Original title The Kiss
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1929
length 59 minutes
Rod
Director Jacques Feyder
script Hanns Kräly , George M. Saville
production Albert Lewin for MGM
music Rudolf Friml , Herbert Stothart
camera William H. Daniels
cut Ben Lewis
occupation

The Kiss (OT: The Kiss ) is an American feature film directed by Jacques Feyder with Greta Garbo in the leading role from 1929. It was the last silent film by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .

action

Irene Guarry is a subtle woman from Lyon who is unhappily married to a brutal man. She secretly loves the lawyer André Dubail, with whom she occasionally meets in the museum. One day young Pierre, the son of one of her husband's business partners, falls in love with Irene. He visits Irene at her house, where a shy but completely innocent kiss ensues. At that moment, Irene's husband comes back, misunderstands the scene and wants to kill Pierre. A scuffle ensues, the door closes in front of the viewer and at that moment a shot is fired. The husband is dead on the floor and it remains unclear until the very end who fired the shot. The subsequent court hearing, in which André takes on the defense of Irene, does not clear up the matter and in the end Irene is acquitted.

background

The Kiss , which was brought into national distribution on November 15, 1929, was the last silent film production. The studio, which was the last of the large studios to switch to sound film , has now had the best sound engineers and the most innovative recording techniques in Hollywood thanks to Douglas Shearer .

In mid-1929, the triumphant advance of the sound film could no longer be stopped and with Wise Girls MGM produced the first pure sound film that no longer had a silent version for cinemas in the country that had not yet been converted to the new technology. At the same time, the studio faced the problem that Greta Garbo had an accent that could not be ignored, which, together with the still primitive recording technology, made her voice sound almost inaudible to American ears. Since her current contract was not entirely clear as to whether she had to make sound recordings at all, the studio waited to put his valuable property in front of a microphone. The deliberate waiting should also pay off for the other top stars of the studio: Joan Crawford , Norma Shearer and Marion Davies all made their debut in talkie , as the sound film was also called, from mid-1929 . However, after Ramón Novarro, another actor with a strong accent, had successfully made the switch to the new profession and, in addition, in the competition from Paramount with Maurice Chevalier, a star was available who became a star precisely because of his foreign accent, MGM decided to try it Dare to Garbo. But until that happened, the actress was still involved in the production of The Kiss in mid-1929 . In Jacques Feyder she got a director whom she also knew and appreciated personally. As a male co-star, Greta Garbo wanted Nils Asther , with whom she had already made two films. In the end, Conrad Nagel got the role.

Theatrical release

Production costs of $ 257,000 were low compared to previous spend on an MGM film starring Greta Garbo. Domestic box office earnings of $ 518,000 and $ 387,000 produced a cumulative total of $ 905,000. The end result was an above-average profit of $ 448,000. This showed that Greta Garbo was an excellent deal for the studio with her last silent film too.

Reviews

Most of the reviews were again positive.

So it said in the Motion Picture Herald :

“Greta Garbo is the last bastion of the silent film, the last hope of all those who prefer silent films. Again she plays one of those mysterious women whose heart no man can ever really fathom, neither her lover, nor her husband, nor the green schoolboy, whose first clumsy kiss conjures up catastrophe. Lew Ayres plays this boy in love so believably that one is almost embarrassed at his display of youthful passion. The secret of Miss Garbo's charisma remains intact in this film. Despite the ungrateful history and in spite of its persistent silence in our talky film era, I would even be willing to pay my ticket for a Garbo film myself - which is the greatest compliment a film critic can ever give. "

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The last stand of the silent pictures, the last hope of those who like 'em quiet is Greta Garbo. Once again she plays one of those mysterious women whose heart no man quite knows, neither her husband nor her lover. A new juvenile, Lew Ayres, plays the infatuated youth so well that one is almost embarrassed at watching his display of adolescent passion. The question of Miss Garbo's appeal is still unsolved by this picture. In spite of unworthy stories, in spite of her stubborn silence in this talkie day, I would gladly pay for my own ticket to see a Garbo picture – which is the greatest compliment a reviewer can pay!