The Kiss (1929)

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"The kiss" took the melodramatic accents of Feyder 's precedent work " Les Nouveaux Messieurs"and tightened them up;whereas that work should have been boiled down to a 90 min movie, "the kiss" depicts a tragedy in admirably succinct style :only 62 min,a very good screenplay which does not reveal the whole truth before the last minutes.It's the classic story of the divine lady married with a graybeard without love ,in love with a more handsome gent;add a young man,pretending to be a man (the subject of the immature young lad will come back later in Feyder 's career in " Pension Mimosas")and all the ingredients of a good melodrama are in it.In Hollywood,Feyder accurately depicted his native land:in jails for women ,the wardens were nuns (in 1960 ,in Clouzot's "La Vérité" ,Brigitte Bardot was guarded by sisters too);and the gendarmes' uniforms are exactly as they were.After this successful work (which owed a lot to G.Garbo in her last silent movie) ,Feyder was disappointed with the screenplays left for him to direct and he came back to his native land and produced his greatest achievements :"Le Grand Jeu" ,"Pension Mimosas" and his masterpiece "La Kermesse Héroique".

I often see stills from this movie accompanying articles about art direction of the 1920s. Stressing the claustrophobic ceilings and the pointed triangular furniture where Irene (Garbo) lives with her husband (Anders Randolph) with whom she is caught in a loveless marriage, the extreme surroundings mirror their tense lives. MGM embraced the stark modernistic Art Deco style, their films were always aimed at the wealthier members of the audience or the poor audiences that envied the rich. The "average" MGM family of the 20s were usually wealthy, who lived in a mad whirl of parties, often taking place on yachts ("Our Dancing Daughters" is a good example).In my opinion, along with "A Woman of Affairs", this is my favourite Garbo film. It was her last silent - released late in 1929 and once again she gave a strong, mesmerizing performance even though the men in the movie (Conrad Nagel, Anders Randolph, Lew Ayres) lacked dynamism and at just over an hour an extraordinarily short running time for a Garbo film.Irene (Garbo) is having a very discreet affair with Andre (Nagel), she begs him to take her away but he is concerned for her reputation and wants to confront her husband, blustering, quick tempered Charles (Anders Randolph - yes Anders Randolph - how did that ever happen, was she in a daze until their honeymoon!!!) - who is not above having Irene tailed!! The only thing of interest the "trailer" has in his book is the amount of time Irene spends with young Pierre (Ayres) who just happens to be her messenger boy and dog handler. Unbeknownst to everyone Pierre is infatuated with Irene. Charles is on the verge of bankruptcy but LaSalle, Pierre's father offers to bail him out, however on the way to the meeting Charles suffers a slight heart attack and instructs his driver to return home. He walks right in on a playful kiss between Irene and Pierre but by the end of the evening Charles is dead and Pierre has staggered home, dishevelled and bloody.The last part of the movie has a couple of innovative sequences. When Irene is questioned by the detectives she is hesitant and changes her story, but the viewer sees it in flashback - are the windows open, no they are closed, what time was it - the clock hands go haywire and instead of 9.30 pm it is now 9.10 pm - she constantly stumbles, recollects and fabricates. At the trial (Andre has returned to represent her) her stark black Adrian designed hat almost turns her into an Art Deco decoration as she is photographed from below, sitting in the witness box.Lew Ayres made a spontaneous, eager Pierre. He was a protégé of Paul Bern and had had a bit part in "The Sophomore" but when Bern moved to MGM he thought of Lew for the role of the youthful Pierre in "The Kiss".

The last silent film of the 20s is a perfect showcase to reveal succinctly and gloriously exactly why this cinematic form was a genuine work of living breathing visual art. Basically a 64 minute glamorous murder mystery of love gone wrong and love misinterpreted THE KISS was Garbo's silent farewell to the 20s too, before "just gimme a scotch baby" or whatever slutty thing she mumbled in 1930 set the tone for talkies. I saw this on a double feature with the astonishing and romantic 1929 talkie drama The Divorcée which I also heartily seriously recommend for students of the age and genre. SO modern! Anyway, THE KISS has committed to everlasting celluloid imagery of one of the most perfect moments in film history...and this is not a spoiler, in fact a great reason for you to find and enjoy this gorgeous film: teenager Lew Ayres has fallen in love with Greta; it is his besotted first time and she is exquisite anyway...so imagine the focus and impact for this charming boy. His tennis match with her at her home has her playfully leaping about laughing and being his friend too. At the end of the game, as they leave the court, she is delighted to be with him and playfully kisses him. So stunned at this impromptu expression of affection, he returns the kiss, and lets his emotions escape. She realises and for a brief moment has THE KISS before stopping it short. Estranged husband has seen all from the drawing room. But the focus here is also on Lew actually unexpectedly getting what he has only dreamed about. She turns away to go to the house and the camera lingers on Lew. So overwhelmed, he privately begins to cry at the enormity and perfection of what has just happened. There isn't a person on the planet who would not have had the same reaction..and this wise and almost perfect film clearly includes us all in on this act and reaction. Sooo genuinely beautiful. Find it. Love it. Kiss it even.... A murder mystery ensues....

Married socialite Garbo gives an innocent kiss to a younger man Ayres who is infatuated with her, which conveys to the mysterious murder of her husband. Absurd, but entertaining drama was Garbo's and MGM's final silent, and is notable as Ayres first feature film. Contains music score and some sound effects.