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1929 film

The Kiss
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jacques Feyder
Screenplay by	Hanns Kräly
Story by	George M. Saville
Produced by	Irving Thalberg Albert Lewin
Starring	Greta Garbo Conrad Nagel Lew Ayres
Cinematography	William Daniels
Edited by	Ben Lewis
Product company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release engagement	November 16, 1929^[1]
Running time	62-65 minutes^[2] ^[3]
State	United States
Languages	Silent English language intertitles
Budget	Us$ 257,000^[4]

The Osculation is a 1929 American silent drama film directed by Jacques Feyder, starring Greta Garbo, Conrad Nagel, and Lew Ayres in his first feature pic. Based on a short story by George Thou. Saville, The Osculation bears the same title every bit the 1896 short that "shocked" the American public by being the first motion motion picture to depict a couple kissing.^[ane] This 1929 production is notable for being the last major silent film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and the concluding silent performances by both Garbo and Conrad Nagel. Although this film is not entirely silent, MGM did take partial advantage of the new sound applied science and released The Osculation with an orchestral score and sound effects recorded by the Movietone organisation.^[2]

Plot [edit]

The story is gear up in 1929 and begins within the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, France. Ii lovers — Irene Guarry (Greta Garbo) and André Dubail (Conrad Nagel) — feign interest in artwork equally they hash out their clandestine romance. Irene is a young woman unhappily married to Charles Guarry (Anders Randolf), a wealthy, much older man of affairs, whose company teeters nigh bankruptcy. André is a successful lawyer, unmarried, close to Irene'due south age, and adamant to face Charles and profess his honey for Irene. Despite being trapped in a loveless marriage, Irene fears her hubby's fierce atmosphere and his reaction if André were to confront him. "He'southward madly jealous," she tells André, and insists that her marriage situation is hopelessly leap by "convention...to a man I don't beloved."^[5] Afterwards she and André osculation, she leaves the museum, adamant never to see her true love again.

Back home, Irene's suspicious husband reviews her daily activities through a private investigator he hired to follow her. The investigator only reports that she went to a local dog show and had an innocent run into with Pierre Lassalle (Lew Ayres), the 18-year-erstwhile son of one of Charles' business assembly. Later on, Irene and Charles nourish a large formal dinner party. She is surprised to see André, who arrives alone and sits at the dinner table across from Irene's sullen husband. Young Pierre is at the political party too, and his father informs Irene that his college-bound boy is "quite mad" almost her.^[five] André and Irene exercise manage to meet briefly in a nearby garden, where André tells her he is moving to Paris and came to the party to see her one last fourth dimension. They once again express their love, kiss passionately and part, both resolved that their affair has ended. Irene then returns to the political party to trip the light fantastic toe with lovestruck Pierre.

The following day, later on a tennis match at his parents' estate, Pierre confesses his beloved to Irene while Charles meets with Pierre's father to discuss his failing business and demand for coin. Irene is touched by Pierre'due south confession but makes light of his ardor, referring to him as "only a young boy."^[5] She agrees, however, to give him a photograph of herself that he can take to college. The following evening, Pierre visits Irene's habitation to get the promised photo, and as he leaves he requests a small-scale goodbye buss. Irene hesitates only gives him a short kiss, which incites Pierre to grab her and press for a more intense 1. Returning dwelling, Charles sees their follow-up kiss, storms into the room, and begins to beat out Pierre mercilessly. Equally her married man pursues the college boy into another room, Irene pleads with him to stop his assault, but he continues to batter Pierre. The room's door closes; a muffled gunshot is heard. Charles dies.

Irene killed her hubby to save Pierre, but before authorities are summoned, she alters the scene and timeline of the crime. To protect Pierre'due south reputation and herself, she tells the constabulary her depressed hubby committed suicide due to his dire finances. Investigators doubt her story and Irene is indicted for murder, prompting André to render to Lyon to defend his ex-lover. During the trial she repeatedly assures André that her husband killed himself. Court testimony by Pierre's father about Charles' impending defalcation and "utter despair," along with André'south heartfelt declarations of Irene's innocence, convince the jury to conduct her.^[5] In the court expanse after the verdict, a smug Pierre tells Irene that her love for him compelled her to kill Charles, but he quickly realizes that André is her true beloved. Guilt-ridden for lying to André, Irene divulges the truth to him. Stunned, he sits and cradles his head in his easily, quietly reassessing his feelings. Believing she has destroyed her relationship with André, Irene is relieved when he finally stands and reaffirms his love for her. The motion picture ends with them kissing merely every bit three old cleaning women enter the room and announce they "have come up to clean the courtroom."^[5]

Bandage [edit]

Greta Garbo equally Irene Guarry
Conrad Nagel as André Dubail
Holmes Herbert as Lassalle
Anders Randolf as Charles Guarry
Lew Ayres as Pierre Lassalle
George Davis every bit Durant, a private investigator
André Cheron equally the prosecutor (uncredited)

Production notes [edit]

During casting for The Kiss, Garbo recommended Nils Asther for the office as her lover André.^[half-dozen] Asther had been born in Denmark but, similar Garbo, had grown upwardly in Sweden, an clan with the actress that only enhanced his reputation as "the male Greta Garbo" in the picture industry and amidst motion-picture show fans.^[7] In addition, he had already costarred with her in two of MGM's recent film successes and was still nether contract with the studio.^[6] Nevertheless, despite those apparent advantages held by Asther and Garbo'due south stiff support for him to join the cast, the office was assigned to Conrad Nagel.
By early on September 1929, The Kiss was already being filmed at MGM, although the studio had yet to announce publicly a title for the production. According to the trade paper The Film Daily, a dozen characteristic films were simultaneously under mode at that time at MGM. All just one were "talkers". "The only silent moving-picture show being filmed", reported The Film Daily, "is Greta Garbo's new untitled European romance now existence directed by Jacques Feyder".^[viii]
The visually striking Art Déco interior sets in The Kiss were designed past legendary MGM fine art manager and production designer Cedric Gibbons.^[nine] Gibbons' bold, high-fashion sets in the film were intended to emphasize the French manner and serve as "vital elements" in the production, especially in a silent offering like The Osculation, which had to compete at its release with many other motion pictures that featured the new "heady" element of recorded dialog.^[ix]

Reception [edit]

Most movie critics gave very positive reviews of The Kiss in 1929, a year in which American motion pictures were continuing their transition from the last major silent productions to the release of more sound films.^[10] Multifariousness alluded to that transition in its 1929 review of The Kiss, contending that the film would have probable suffered in quality if it had been released with recorded dialog.^[11]

The motion picture grossed $518,000 in the United states and $387,000 elsewhere, bringing its worldwide gross to $905,000, the turn a profit for the pic was $448,000.^[12]

The publication felt that both Garbo's performance and her concrete appearance in the film were really enhanced by its silent format:

The Kiss, with an unusual taste exhibited in casting and direction, is entertainment of the holding kind. And it is 1 of Miss Garbo's best, without stretching the elastic of kindness. Though this is silent it may exist stronger that way than with dialog...Few actresses could weather the series of shut-ups required of Miss Garbo in this ane. In each she registers an individual perfection. The series proves her biggest nugget is her naturalness.^[11]

Film critic Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times referred to the presence of The Buss among all the new talking pictures in late 1929 as "Golden silence" and a sit-in of Fedyer's "consummate artistry" with a non-talker.^[thirteen] "Miss Garbo", observed Hall, "once again reveals her extraordinary talent for screen acting, and under M. Fedyer's guidance she is if anything more impressive than she has been in other films."^[13] The Film Daily—widely read by studio personnel and theater owners—likewise described Garbo as "very alluring" and "exotic" in The Osculation; only that paper constitute the "sophisticated drama" defective, especially the film's conclusion.^[14] "The subject area affair", wrote The Film Daily, "is likewise tragic, and the ending not the type that the average fan looks for."^[xiv]

Released less than 4 months after the disastrous "crash" of the American stock market in 1929, The Kiss was not expected to do well financially by alluring sizeable crowds of filmgoers in that highly unstable economical time.^[half-dozen] The film, though, surprised studio executives by making a significant profit and becoming Garbo's second most successful silent motion-picture show, ranking only behind Mankind and the Devil with John Gilbert, which had been released three years earlier.^[4] ^[half-dozen] In Atlanta, Georgia, for example, it was reported that during Thanksgiving calendar week The Osculation "bankrupt all existing house records for receipts at Loew's Capitol [Theatre]".^[fifteen]

Seven decades after its initial release, The Kiss has been recognized as i of the notable portrayals of romance in cinematic history. In 2002, the American Motion picture Institute placed the MGM classic on its listing of 400 nominations in its "100 Years/100 Passions" poll to determine "America'south Greatest Dearest Stories".^[16] The film enthusiasts or "jurors" who voted in that 2002 poll did not include The Kiss and various other silent productions in their last pick of 100 films. In fact, just four non-talkers—Way Down East (1920), Rudolph Valentino's The Sheik (1921), Sunrise (1927), and Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931)—were chosen for AFI's top-100 "Greatest Love Stories" list.^[17]

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b "The Buss (1929)", film details, Turner Archetype Movies (TCM), Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Fourth dimension Warner, Inc., New York, N.Y. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "The Osculation (1929)", product details, American Moving-picture show Found (AFI), Los Angeles, California. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
^ Walker, Alexander; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1980). Garbo: A Portrait. New York, N.Y.: Macmillan Publishing Company, October 1980, page 184.
^ ^a ^b "The Kiss (1929)", production details Net Flick Database (IMDb), Amazon, Seattle, Washington. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^eastward Dialog recorded and transcribed straight from intertitles in The Kiss, which was circulate in its entirety on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) on August 28, 2018. Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc., New York, N.Y.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Passafiume, Andrea. "Articles: The Buss (1929)", Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Turner Broadcasting System, Time Warner, Inc., New York, N.Y. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
^ "Nils Asther", The Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood Sleeping room of Commerce, Los Angeles, California. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
^ "12 Existence Shot at Yard-G-M Studio", The Movie Daily (New York, N.Y.), September 10, 1929, page six, column 1. Internet Archive, San Francisco, California. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
^ Sarkissian, Razmig (2013). "Silent to audio: A await back at a quiet revolution", archives of UCLA Today, January 28, 2013. University of California at Los Angeles. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Waly." (1929). "The Osculation (Silent)", review, Variety (New York, N.Y.), Nov 20, 1929, page thirty. Net Archive. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
^ "The Kiss".
^ ^a ^b Hall, Mordaunt (1932). "THE SCREEN; A Silent Miss Garbo", athenaeum of The New York Times, November 16, 1929. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "The Kiss", review, The Film Daily (New York, Due north.Y.), November 17, 1929, folio nine. Internet Archive. Retrieved September 2, 2018. The Film Daily in the heading of its review for The Kiss mistakingly labels the motion picture an "All-Talker".
^ "'Kiss' Sets Tape at Loew House in Atlanta", The Picture show Daily, December 9, 1929, page 4, column iii. Internet Annal. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
^ "AFI'south 100 Years/100 Passions: America'southward Greatest Love Stories", list of 400 nominations, American Motion-picture show Institute, Los Angeles, California, 2002. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
^ "AFI's 100 GREATEST LOVE STORIES OF ALL Time", list highlighted in the American television special "The AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions", originally circulate on June xi, 2002, and hosted by Candice Bergen. AFI. Retrieved September 2, 2018.