The Kiss

As a fan of Greta Garbo films, I consider each one of them highly entertaining and worth seeking out. The Swedish beauty could captivate the viewer in many of her roles to such extend that she was as popular in movie world as, much later, the Swedish band ABBA was in music world. Yet, when I talk to people who are quite knowledgeable about the early cinema, I usually encounter the opinion that Garbo films let them down. "She was such a dramatic lady," they say "she can still make us cry."

Strange as it may occur, to some extend, this pretentious opinion may be found accurate, particularly when we consider the year 1939 and Garbo's first comedy NINOTCHKA made by Ernst Lubitsch. What a change, what a revelation it was! "A true transformation," some said and indeed, NINOTCHKA proved Garbo's talent in comedy (unfortunately forever bound to fail two years later in TWO FACED WOMAN). But few people know that Garbo had wonderfully modern roles in some other films, roles that can still make your day thanks to their charm and convincing portrayals. One of such films is THE KISS with original musical score, the last silent movie of Garbo and MGM directed by Jacques Feyder with whom Garbo worked later on the German version of "Anna Christie" with Salka Viertel. The uniqueness of THE KISS is the fact that it is very different from all other Garbo films.

The kiss of 'good bye' that cost Irene Guarry (Greta Garbo) so much (which was metaphorically Garbo's farewell to silents) is the representation of all human struggles and desires. Simple as the short story may seem, when you watch the film carefully, you realize that the director aimed at conveying some important and a very up-to-date message for all of us: "Listen to your heart not the tyrants of conventions and misery of duties..." There is a bit of everything in the story: wit, romance, jealousy, pardoning... Consider, for instance, the sequence at the court where we get the masterwork of human situation, individual situation in the mute world.

The film can boast terrific artistic merits with scenes of exceptional charm. Here, a mention must be made of the party at Lasalle, which again proves the glamor of the silent era. But, most things we can appreciate here are there thanks to the Swedish Sphinx... Garbo. The great Greta gives another brilliant performance in the lead but, as it has already been mentioned, her role differs from other of her silent roles in the way that Irene Guarry appears to be a particularly modern character as well as her story appears to be extremely appealing to modern audience. It is not as much her vehicle as the story which captivates certain viewers. That, however, does not mean that we easily forget the great actress whose presence illumines the moments and supplies them with unique power. There are exceptional shots of Garbo's face. Consider, for instance, the moment she looks at herself in the mirror. Perhaps not as great as the ultra famous moment in FLESH AND THE DEVIL but also highly worth attention. What a great beauty she was!

So to speak, THE KISS is a very important movie in both Garbo's career and the history of MGM. It occurs to be a great farewell to the silent era, an interesting look at life situation filled with the affection that any kiss deserves... And for Garbo fans somewhere there in the world: a different look at the famous Swede, yet, unique and magnetic as always.

This isn't the best Garbo silent ever made, but it was the last, and it was also the final silent film made by MGM. What makes this film good is the combination of Garbo's acting and the cinematography here. Movies like this and Sunrise make me somewhat sad that the silent film era ended, because what could be done creatively with the camera was lost from this point until the early 30's once the problems of the static camera got worked out and the novelty of sound at the expense of everything else wore off.

Garbo convincingly plays the sympathetic yet no-longer-in-love wife when in the presence of her husband (Anders Randolf), the longing lover who wishes to defy convention and just leave her marriage behind regardless of the consequences when with André Dubail (Conrad Nagel), and the knowledgeable "older" woman who is enjoying the attention she is getting when with the very young and naive Pierre Lassalle (Lew Ayres). Whenever she is alone she has no trouble conveying which of these three moods she is in. The story is a very good tale of tortured romance with a little bit of mystery thrown in towards the end, but the main attractions are the romance and the beautiful and creative shots. The only thing really annoying is the original Vitaphone score that went along with the movie. With all of the other subtle expression going on in this film, the choice of the theme song from "Romeo and Juliet" to convey the feelings between Garbo and Nagel every time they shared a scene just seemed a bit over the top.

"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.

In Lyons, Irene Guarry (Greta Garbo) is not happy with her marriage with the old businessman Charles Guarry (Anders Randolf) and is in love with the young lawyer André Duball (Conrad Nagel). Irene knows that the jealous Charles will never give the divorce to her; therefore they decide to stop seeing each other since she does not want to be an unfaithful wife and defy the convention. André also decides to move to Paris. One day, Irene knows the eighteen year-old college student Pierre Lassalle (Lew Ayres) in a party during his vacation and she learns that the youngster is infatuated with her. By the end of his vacation, Pierre asks a photo for Irene and she promises to give one to him. Meanwhile Charles has a meeting with Pierre's father Lassalle (Holmes Herbert) and discloses that he is on the verge of bankruptcy. Lassalle promises to help his friend and they schedule a meeting in the night. When Charles goes to the encounter, Pierre arrives at his home and asks for a goodbye kiss to Irene. Meanwhile Charles does not feel well and returns home, witnessing their kiss. Charles tries to kill Pierre and later the student arrives home and tells his father that Charles is dead. Irene is arrested accused of murdering her husband. What happened in Charles's office?

"The Kiss" is a melodramatic romance and the last MGM and Greta Garbo's silent film and the debut of Lew Ayres. The movie has beautiful shots, a mystery and Greta Garbor extremely beautiful. Despite being a silent film, MGM uses sound technology with a powerful orchestral soundtrack. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Beijo" ("The Kiss")

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.