Wonderland Burlesque's
Let's All Go To The Movies:
It's In His Kiss
Part III
It's in his kiss.
Isn't that where it all begins?
A caress of the lips. A deep longing. Sharing a single breath?
On the silver screen such a kiss can be captured forever, frozen in time.
Or so these films would have us believe.
So, let's kiss and tell and spill the beans on these everlasting smacks, smooches, and snogs.
Yes, things can get pretty heated.
Chapstick exists for a reason, you know!
Grab a seat on the aisle.
Popcorn at the ready.
Pucker up and roll film!
- uptonking from Wonderland Burlesque
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Kiss Me, Caroline
(1920)
Two undergraduate males are expelled from college for playing pranks on others. To square things with his father, one of them is forced to settle down by entering matrimony and, with no girls being visible on the horizon, the son gets his chum, Bobby, to pose as his wife. Bobby disguises himself in frills, negligees and things seem to be going well until a couple of real girls happen on the scene. It seems Bobby is determined to be with the flappers much to the chagrin of his chum. Eventually the irate papa comes to the house and orders Bobby to show his affection for his 'spouse' by kissing him. In the end, all's well that ends well, when the real girls consent to go through with the marriage ceremony.
This American two-reel comedy was directed by Al Christie and stars Bobby Vernon, Teddy Sampson, Charlotte Merriam, and Vera Steadman.
This was the first Christie comedy to be released through Educational Film Exchanges.
Kiss Me Sergeant
(1930)
AKA: Idol of Moolah
In India, a British soldier saves the jeweled eye of a sacred idol.
Based on a play by Syd Courtenay and Lola Harvey, this British comedy was directed by Monty Banks and stars Leslie Fuller, Gladys Cruickshank and Gladys Frazin. In his heyday in the 1930s, Fuller was a major celebrity with a considerable following. He drew massive crowds at public appearances. British Pathé News filmed his daughters' christening; and the studios dubbed him 'Elstree's Clark Gable'.
It was shot at Elstree Studios as a quota quickie. The Cinematograph Films Act 1927 was an act of the UK Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry. The act introduced a requirement for British cinemas to show a quota of British films for a duration of 10 years. Its supporters believed that it would promote the emergence of a vertically integrated film industry, with production, distribution and exhibition infrastructure controlled by the same companies. As the vertically integrated American film industry had rapid growth in the years immediately following the end of World War I, the intention was to counter Hollywood's perceived economic and cultural dominance by promoting similar business practices among British studios, distributors and cinema chains.
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Kiss Me Kate
(1953)
Fred and Lilly are a divorced pair of actors who are brought together by Cole Porter who has written a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. Of course, the couple behave off-stage a great deal like the characters they play on-stage. A fight on the opening night threatens the production, as well as two thugs who have the mistaken idea that Fred owes their boss money and insist on staying next to him all night.
Based on the 1948 Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate by Bella and Samuel Spewack, with music by Cole Porter, this American musical romantic comedy was directed by George Sidney and stars Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, James Whitmore, Kurt Kasznar, Keenan Wynn and Bobby Van.
The original Broadway production of Kiss Me Kate opened at the New Century Theater on December 30, 1948 and ran for 1077 performances. The show was the among the first recipients of the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards in 1949 for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Musical Score. The original stage show was based upon the backstage bickering of the illustrious married stage couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne during their 1935 Broadway production of Taming of the Shrew.
Howard Keel said that he was not the first choice for the film, and that the studio wanted Laurence Olivier or Danny Kaye.
Deanna Durbin had been MGM's first choice for the role of Lilli Vanessi, but despite a visit by producer Jack Cummings to Deanna's home near Paris, she could not be persuaded to emerge from retirement.
This was Ann Miller's favorite role. It was expanded for the film: in the stage version, Lois does not sing Too Darn Hot. Instead it is sung by Paul, Fred's dresser, who is an African-American.
Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore neglected to rehearse their Brush Up Your Shakespeare number more than once or twice because they thought it was silly. When it came time to shoot it they made numerous fumbles and mistakes which the director thought were on purpose. He later complimented them on making it look like something a couple of thugs would perform. They never told him the truth.
Even though Hermes Pan is the credited choreographer on the film, the steamy duet between Bob Fosse and Carol Haney in From This Moment On, during which Fosse does a complete back-flip, was choreographed by Fosse himself. It lasts only 66 seconds, but is the sequence that made critics take notice of the future award-winning choreographer and director. Choreographer Hermes Pan makes an appearance as a sailor in the number Always True to You in My Fashion.
For the famous spanking scene, Kathryn Grayson and costume designer Helen Rose played a joke on Howard Keel; Rose put a wooden board under Grayson's costume.
The stage sets were influenced by the artist Giorgio De Chirico. His work was very influential in Hollywood in the early 1950s and can be seen in sets for A Star Is Born (1954) and Singin' in the Rain (1952).
This was filmed in 3D, and though the fad for it had petered out before it could be released, it does help explain why things are continually thrown and flung at the audience. Devotees of the stereoscopic 3-D medium usually cite this film as one of the best examples of a Hollywood release in polarized 3D. Promotional materials for this film erroneously claimed it was the first 3-D musical; incorrect - Those Redheads from Seattle, a 3-D musical by Paramount Pictures, went into wide release on October 16th, one day after this musical held it's first preview. Kiss Me Kate didn't go into wide release until November of that year.
Kingsley's screenplay was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award. The songs were by Cole Porter, with musical underscoring by Saul Chaplin and André Previn, who were nominated for an Academy Award. Due to an accident while riding a horse, Porter was wheelchair-bound when he composed the music for this musical.
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called Kiss Me Kate "one of the year's more magnificent musical films... a beautifully staged, adroitly acted and really superbly sung affair - better, indeed, if one may say so, than the same frolic was on the stage." Variety opened its positive review by stating: "Metro's reputation for turning out top caliber musical pictures is further enhanced with Kiss Me Kate. It's Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew done over in eminently satisfying fashion via a collaboration of superior song, dance and comedy talents." Harrison's Reports called it "a lively and highly entertaining blend of comedy, music, dancing and romance."
John McCarten of The New Yorker was more dismissive, writing that it "does have some engaging tunes, but the book of the original has been so thoroughly laundered that little of the comedy, which ran to fairly bawdy stuff, remains, and Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel, as a bickering theatrical pair compelled to play opposite each other in Shakespeare, are lacking in vital juices." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post disliked the changes made to the stage version such as the reduction of Another Op'nin and I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple, calling the film "a grand musical with lots of pleasures to recommend it. But if you're familiar with what they had to work with, you'll not be enthusiastic, a form of criticism with which not all agree, but in this case I don't see how it's to be avoided." The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "The execution generally - sets, costumes, dance numbers, the Cole Porter songs - is pleasing, but the direction lacks flair and the film seems somewhat over-long."
The film underperformed at the box office, possibly because many theatres refused to show it in 3-D. With the film's high production costs, MGM ended up losing $544,000.
Kiss Me Stupid
(1964)
Dino, the charming and lecherous Las Vegas singer, stops for gas on his way to Hollywood in Climax, Nevada. The oily gas-station attendant is Barney Millsap, a would-be lyricist who writes pop songs with Orville Spooner, the local piano teacher. By disabling Dino's car, Barney contrives a scheme to have Dino sing one of their songs on an upcoming TV special. To entertain Dino, Barney contacts the village tart, Polly, employing her to pretend to be Orville's wife Zelda for a night. She doesn't like Dino, but does love being Orville's surrogate wife. Dino goes to a bar, where he meets the real Zelda, and they spend the night together while Polly spends it with Orville!
Based on Anna Bonacci's Italian play, L'Ora della Fantasia this American sex comedy was produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and stars Dean Martin, Kim Novak, and Ray Walston with Cliff Osmand, Felicia Farr, Barbara Peppers, Alice Pearce, Doro Merande, John Fiedler, Mel Blanc and Henry Gibson.
The role of Polly the Pistol was originally written for Marilyn Monroe. Her death in August of 1962 delayed the project. Jayne Mansfield was then considered, but had to withdraw due to pregnancy, leaving the door open for Kim Novak.
This was the second film that Dean Martin was to star opposite Marilyn Monroe. He quit the first one, Something's Got To Give (1962) when they fired Monroe. This was supposed to also be the first of two films Martin was to do with Wilder at the helm, but the second never happened, probably due to the failure of this film at the box office.
Production began with Peter Sellers in the role of Orville. Sellers suffered a heart attack several weeks into production. Tony Randall, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye and Tom Ewell were all considered to replace him. Ultimately, filming was re-started with Ray Walston in the role. Upon learning of Sellers' heart attack, Billy Wilder is reputed to have said, "Heart attack? You need a heart to have a heart attack!"
According to a Peter Sellers interview in 1962, the original idea Billy Wilder had about casting was to co-star him with Frank Sinatra (in the role eventually played by Dean Martin), Marilyn Monroe (as Polly) and Shirley MacLaine (as Zelda). None of them ended up in the finished picture, of course. Jack Lemmon was whom Wilder had wanted originally for the role of Orville, but he was busy. Ironically, Lemmon's wife, Felicia Farr ended up being cast as Zelda.
Billy Wilder approached friend Ira Gershwin and asked if he would like to collaborate on the songs written by Barney and Orville. Gershwin suggested he write lyrics to unpublished music by his late brother George Gershwin, and as a result three new songs by the Gershwins: Sophia, I'm a Poached Egg, and All the Livelong Day debuted in the film.
This film was extremely controversial in its day and was generally attacked for bad taste. It was rated "Condemned" as an immoral film by the (Catholic) Legion of Decency; a rating they had not given any film since Baby Doll (1956). This rating caused United Artists to release the film through its subsidiary Lopert Pictures, who generally handled imported and art house films. The Mirisch Corporation tried to edit the film to get the rating changed, but failed. Then the picture was savagely criticized by Billy Wilder's old friend Barbara Stanwyck (who hadn't seen it). In the end, it was a box-office flop. Years later, Wilder laconically referred to it as "the start of my downfall."
You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
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Kiss Me Killer
(1977)
AKA: Waltz For A Murderer
A deadly look into the savage world of gangsters. The aftermath of a holdup turns into a game of deceit and double-cross. A vengeful woman brings about the destruction of the entire gang of ruthless killers.
This Spanish/French gangster film was directed by Jesús Franco (as Roland Marceignac) and stars Alice Arno, Gilda (York) Arancio, Lina Romay and Oliver Mathot.
This is a remake of one of Jesús Franco's 1960s films. It was shot in 1973 and 1974, but was not released until 1977.
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And that's all for now, folks!
Tune in next time...
Same place, same channel.
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Kiss Me Stupid - Movie Trailer
(1964)
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