The Kiss (1929)

The Worst Film Ever

The acting in this movie is really good.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

THE KISS (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1929), directed by Jacques Feyder, goes on record as the last silent movie for both the studio and its popular leading lady, Greta Garbo. Released near the close of the year when talkies were the talk, or in other words, the rage of the movie business, MGM took a gamble on continuing on making product of silent movies that's now considered passé, and keeping the Swedish temptress from appearing in a talkie until finally "Garbo Talks" in the highly popular ANNA Christie (1930). What's even more common up to this point was casting Garbo as an unfaithful woman married to a middle-aged man involved with one closer to her own age. For THE KISS, two young men, screen veteran Conrad Nagel, and newcomer Lew Ayres. While MGM might have placed the versatile Lewis Stone as the older husband, having done so with Garbo in WILD ORCHIDS (1929), Anders Randolf became the final choice. He acts his part with further conviction than Stone would have if he played the part. For a ordinary story (by George M. Seville) that could have taken place anywhere from New York to Tahiti, the setting for THE KISS is in Lyons, France. It's uncertain if the leading players are characters of French descent, but if so, maybe it's a good thing that THE KISS is a silent film since it's a hard to imagine the Swedish Garbo speaking with a French accent? As for the screenplay (credited to Hans Kraly), the story opens at the Museum of Fine Arts where Irene Guarry (Greta Garbo) is meeting secretly with Andre Dubail (Conrad Nagel), her lover. Andre wants Irene to divorce her husband, Charles (Anders Randolf), a silk merchant whose business prevents him from giving his wife the full attention she desires. Fearing of his jealous nature if the two men should meet, and unable to come up with a possible solution, Irene and Andre decide to part company. Returning to her usual lifestyle and social functions, Irene attends one given by her husband's business partner, Lassalle (Holmes Herbert), whose 18-year-old son, Pierre (Lew Ayres), has a crush on her. Suspecting Irene to be unfaithful, Charles hires Durant (George Davis), a detective, to trail her. During the investigation, Durant finds Irene constantly in the company of Pierre, in reality to be all very innocent. One night while Charles to assist Lassalle, whose on the verge of bankruptcy, Pierre comes over to visit with Irene, who had promised him a picture of herself to take with him upon his return to school. Discovering they are alone, Pierre forces himself on Irene with a passionate kiss at the very moment Charles returns to catch them together. As the irate husband beats the frightful youth senseless, Irene suddenly grabs her husband's revolver and off camera fires a shot. Because the police find contradictions in her story, Irene is arrested to later face a murder trial with her former lover, Andre, as her attorney.An acceptable melodrama of the soap-opera school made interesting by its lengthy courtroom climax consisting of various points of views told via flashback depicting what occurred the night of the murder. Aside from such notable camera angles and stylish sets, along with added sound effects of the telephone ringing and a gunshot noise, there's also wonder what secret Irene is holding back from her attorney and what the verdict will be, a common practice in many trial stories.While THE KISS is sometimes credited at 89 minutes, circulating prints available either on the old 1990s VHS format or on cable television's Turner Classic Movies have the running time of 62 minutes, which obviously was the one distributed in theaters since there seems to be no indication of severe editing nor sudden fade-outs. Containing a musical track conducted by Dr. William Axt, its only drawback is its repetitious use of Tschiakowski's love theme composition for "Romeo and Juliet." Other than that, this is typical Garbo of the 1920s that should still be of some interest today and the film for which she kisses goodbye to the art of silent movie making.(**)

I've got to admit up front that I have long felt that Greta Garbo was a bit overrated as an actress. All too often, she was stuck in super-melodramatic films involving either adultery or with Garbo playing an irresistible "super-vamp". While the public loved this persona, the films seemed quite derivative and clichéd. There are only so many films like this you can watch until they blend together.Fortunately, she also made some dandy films like NINOTCHKA, QUEEN Christina and THE KISS. While superficially the film seems just like another adultery film, Garbo was given better material--as she was a woman who WANTED to commit adultery but couldn't bring herself to cheat on her much older husband. I'm glad the film didn't pursue this expected plot line but instead the film is about the consequences when the husband THINKS she's cheating on him when she isn't. This led to a dandy finale where there is a nice plot twist.Overall, this film excelled because Garbo did NOT stare in a pained way into space as she so often did in films where she played a married woman trapped in a loveless marriage. Here, she plays a more believable and well-rounded personality--someone who seemed much more human than the usual Garbo character.With good production values and only one minor problem (a repetitive and sappy soundtrack), this is well worth a look.

"The Kiss" happens about midway into the movie ... Greta Garbo gives young admirer Lew Ayres a friendly kiss goodbye as he's about to leave town, Ayres, who cannot control his infatuation with the beautiful Garbo, goes in for another, less platonic kiss, at which point Garbo's husband sees them from afar and goes berserk. A fight amongst the three ensues, gets carried into another room where the door is shut to us, the audience, and we hear a shot. Garbo's husband is dead, but who did it? Prior to the "kiss" moment, we've seen Garbo and her lover (Conrad Nagel) in a torturous romance ... they both love each other madly but Greta doesn't see any way out of her loveless marriage. In the meantime, Lew Ayres follows Greta around like a puppy dog; he's an 18-year-old completely infatuated with the beautiful married lady.The latter half of the movie deals with the investigation of the husband's death, Greta's arrest, and her trial where she is defended by Nagel who in addition to being her former lover is also a lawyer.I won't give away the outcome of the trial, but I will say that the jury believes it is Person A who did it and after the trial we learn it was Person B.The musical score to this flick was absolutely horrible. I especially could have done without the "Romeo and Juliet" theme that was played every time the flick wanted to telegraph Greta's and Conrad's love to the audience.Despite the score, this was a very enjoyable silent movie. I find some silents tedious, others quite well done. "The Kiss" definitely falls into the latter category. Worth watching.

"The Kiss" has a fairly predictable plot, but interesting acting from the excellent cast keeps you watching on this one. As others wrote, the Vitaphone soundtrack here was pretty poor, except for one section; all the melodies have been used before in many silent films. Listening to classical Tchaikovsky is not really appropriate for a modern film like "The Kiss."Greta has some great closeups in this film, but in certain sections seems to be sleepwalking through her role. Conrad Nagel was a delight to watch, he always seemed much more handsome on screen than in his still photos. He is the hero in this film, if the film could really be said to have a hero after everyone lies in court.Lew Ayres was adorable, and had to have made a great impression on studio bosses when the film was first released, for he went straight from this film into his classic "All Quiet On The Western Front", which made him a star. Holmes Herbert, so good in Pola Negri's "A Woman of the World", here is aged with makeup and plays Lew Ayres' father convincingly. Anders Randolf was a bit jarring as Greta's husband, but his performance was fine too.The print was decent on this MGM release, compared to another Garbo feature, "The Single Standard", made earlier. But of both films, "The Single Standard" is by far the superior film technically, plot-wise, and in its performances, though its print is more worn.