Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: It's In His Kiss - Part XVI

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Let's All Go To The Movies: 

It's In His Kiss

Part XVI

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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A Kiss in the Dark

(1925)

Walter Grenham, who has a weakness for women, persuades an old friend, Janet Livingstone, to marry him, promising to remain faithful to her. They then prepare to embark for New York in the company of a young married couple, Betty and Johnny King, but, by misadventure, Betty and Walter are left behind in Havana. Walter takes a plane to Key West, where he overtakes Janet and explains everything to her satisfaction; Betty goes to New York and finds her husband in the arms of a chorus girl. With great difficulty and misunderstanding, Walter reunites the Kings and finally prepares to settle down to domestic bliss.

Based upon a novel by Frederick Lonsdale, this American silent comedy was directed by Frank Tuttle and stars Adolphe Menjou, Aileen Pringle, Lillian Rich, Kenneth MacKenna, Ann Pennington, Kitty Kelly, and Zeppo Marx.

This film is historically notable for the appearance of Zeppo Marx of the Marx Brothers. He is credited by his birth name, Herbert Marx. This was the only film in which Zeppo stars without his brothers. A review for the film from the New York Sun dated April 7, 1925 praises Zeppo's performance: "Miss Pennington and Mr. Marx have only brief appearances, but they make them count."

This was considered to be a lost film for decades, until two of its six reels were discovered by a private collector.

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Strangers May Kiss

(1931)

Lisbeth is a modern woman who thinks that marriage is old fashioned. She has two men in her life; Steve, who wants to marry her and Alan, who wants her to travel with him. Despite all the warnings by her friends and family, Lisbeth goes to Mexico with Alan where she is happy until she finds out that he has a wife in Paris and is leaving for his next job without her. Devastated, she spends a few years in Europe being the life of the party. While her reputation is well known, her life of gaiety has not made her happy.

Based on the book Strangers May Kiss written by Ursula Parrott, this American pre-Code drama was produced and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by George Fitzmaurice (uncredited) and stars Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery and Neil Hamilton.

Based on a book of the same name by Ursula Parrott who also wrote the book upon which The Divorcee, one of Norma Shearer's biggest hits, was based.

Norma Shearer, who always had a lot of power at M-G-M as a result of both her audience draw and marriage to acclaimed M-G-M Producer Irving Thalberg, she personally selected this story to star in, after having read over 200 different scripts and books. She also officially requested that Robert Montgomery play the lead actor role.

Norma Shearer had just had a child and was extremely self-conscious about her postpartum appearance. Cinematographer William Daniels remembered, "She worried about her figure and her complexion, and we dickered a lot about the lighting. I had to assure her several times that her figure was as svelte and shapely before her pregnancy." "I don't want the fans to see any difference," she said nervously, "I did my exercises, watched my diet, and I deserve to look good in this. I've earned the right!"

Neil Hamilton began his career as the Arrow (Shirt) Collar Man in print ads for the shirts.

Future star Ray Milland makes an uncredited appearance as 'Third Suiter'.

Robert Montgomery and Norma Shearer

Norma Shearer

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 A Kiss in the Dark

(1949)

Snooty concert pianist Eric Phillips is exhausted and beginning to fear he's losing his talent. His condition is not helped when he discovers he's the owner of an apartment building filled with tenants who have a long list of grievances. His manager suggests he move into the building for a rest, an idea that initially does not appeal to Eric. He begins to feel differently as he becomes involved in the lives of his eccentric tenants, especially a pretty model named Polly.

This American comedy film directed by Delmer Daves and starring David Niven, Jane Wyman, Victor Moore, Wayne Morris, Broderick Crawford and Maria Ouspenskaya.

Broderick Crawford had a stellar year in 1949. Besides his hilariously over the top portrayal of Botts here, he starred in All the King's Men, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor while the film won Best Picture.

Final film of Maria Ouspenskaya before her death on December 3 1949 from a stroke following burns sustained in a house fire. Ouspenskaya carved out a lengthy career portraying housekeepers, European oligarchs and gypsy queens. She was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Dodsworth (1936) and Love Affair (1939).

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther called A Kiss in the Dark "flimsy and unoriginal" and wrote: "No one can take great exception to the formula of boy-meets-girl, so long as some bright contrivance is pleasantly worked into it. And no one can say that Miss Wyman is above a nice frolicsome lark. But the trouble with this standard fiction is that it isn't very bright and Miss Wyman has very little of a frolicsome nature to do in it."

All the references in the ad campaign for this film reference 'Belinda'. Wyman had won an Academy Award for Best Actress the previous year for her portrayal of a deaf-mute in Johnny Belinda.

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Once You Kiss A Stranger

(1969)

Southern-California golf pro Jerry is the target for Diana, a disturbed young woman who desires the death of her shrink, who alone realizes her psychotic potential and seeks to have her committed. She suggests to Jerry that they "swap" murders: she'll kill his golf rival and he'll reciprocate by killing her psychiatrist. When she holds up her half of the bargain, she expects him to follow through with his end.

A loose remake of 1951's Strangers On A Train, this American thriller was directed by Robert Sparr and stars Paul Burke, Carol Lynley, Martha Hyer, Peter Lind Hayes, Philip Carey, Stephen McNally and Whit Bissell.

The film want through various working titles was being filmed in the summer of 1968: You Can't Win Them All, Sudden Death, and The Perfect Set-Up. All of those phrases were uttered by a character in the movie, per Howard Kazanjian, assistant director.

This was the final directing project by Robert Sparr. His film was released posthumously. He died in a plane crash on August 28, 1969 while scouting locations for his next film.

 

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Strangers Kiss

(1983)

To help his actress girlfriend regain her confidence a Hollywood bigshot bankrolls a small budget film being made by a first-time producer and director pair. Despite the hand-to-mouth way it has to be made the film starts to come good, as does the off-set relationship between the actress and her unknown male lead.

This American drama was directed by Matthew Chapman, and stars Peter Coyote, Victoria Tennant, Dan Shor and Blaine Novak.

                                                                             

The movie was inspired by Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss (1955) and is based on the making of that movie. The name of the fictitious producer of the film-within-the-film is Farris; the producer of Killer's Kiss was James B. Harris. However, the timid and much-put-upon Farris bears very little resemblance to Harris. The first name of the movie's film director, Stanley, was derived from the first name of director Stanley Kubrick, though the character  is only billed in the credits as The Director. The opening title card for this film reads: "Hollywood, 1955". That is the same year as Stanley Kubrick's  Killer's Kiss (1955) launched.

The film premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 24, 1983 and the Toronto International Film Festival on September 17 before being theatrically distributed in select markets by Orion Classics on February 1, 1984.

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And that's all for now, folks!

Tune in next time...

Same place, same channel.

 A Kiss in the Dark - Movie Trailer

(1949)

 Strangers Kiss - Movie Trailer

(1983)

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