Film Review
It was the success of his daring adaptation of
Thérèse Raquin (1928)
(a film which sadly no longer exists) which earned Belgian
filmmaker Jacques Feyder his ticket to Hollywood to direct his first
American film (at MGM studios) and his last silent film.
The Kiss was also to be MGM's last
silent film, as well as that of the iconic actress Greta Garbo.
By the time the film went into production, the death knell for silent
cinema in Hollywood had been sounded and it was only MGM's worries over
Garbo's ability to make the transition to sound (her poor English
pronunciation was exacerbated by her strong Swedish accent) which
prevented
The Kiss from being
a talkie. The film did however have a synchronised musical
soundtrack (with much of the music taken, all too predictably, from
Wagner's
Tristan and Isolde)
with a few special sound effects (the sound of a gun being fired at the
film's two most dramatic moments). Unlike many of his
contemporaries, Feyder was enthusiastic about the switchover to sound and
relished the challenges this presented on his subsequent sound features.
The Kiss was the perfect
vehicle for Garbo, allowing her once again to play the smouldering
object of desire that no man could resist but who was fated to
become the tragic victim, redeemed by an act of sublime
selflessness. It was
not
such a perfect vehicle for Jacques Feyder, whose previous French
features had had far more in the way of plot sophistication and character
development than this typically trashy piece of Hollywood
melodrama. That the film has stood the test of time so well and
rates as one of Garbo's better films is almost entirely down to
Feyder's imaginative treatment of a pretty banal and well-worn
subject. Carefully orchestrated tracking shots, pans and zooms
achieve a balletic fluidity that makes a striking contrast with the
comparatively static feel of most melodramas made in Hollywood at this
time. The film's most inspired sequence - the camera pulling back
on a closing door, behind which a single gunshot is heard - has a
Hitchcockian elegance and simplicity to it, beautifully setting up the
murder mystery that dominates the second half of the film. The
long courtroom scene is made interesting by some equally inventive
camerawork and effective use of subjective flashbacks (in which the
uncertainty in the heroine's testimony is graphically depicted).
In contrast to his subsequent American films, which show an increasing
sense of frustration with the Hollywood system, Feyder manages to bring
a dynamism and auteur sensibility to
The
Kiss, elevating it way above the standard of the usual Hollywood
melodrama.
Feyder was doubly fortunate in that not only did he have an
accomplished technical crew, which included the legendary
cinematographer William H. Daniels (who had previously worked on Erich
von Stroheim's
Greed (1924)
and
The Merry Widow (1925)), but
also a high-calibre cast, headed by the queen of the screen icons,
Greta Garbo, then at the height of her powers. The 24-year-old
Garbo was a godsend for any film director and Feyder does her justice,
not only perpetuating the Garbo legend by showing her at her most
radiantly beautifully and sensual, but also by allowing her to give
what is assuredly one of her finest screen performances. The
lingering close-ups are not content merely to record Garbo's incomparable beauty;
they also reveal the torrent of emotion beneath the surface, the
growing sense of hopelessness as the cruel net of fate closes around
the flawed heroine and drags her inexorably towards the guillotine. If
only Garbo had been allowed to speak! How much more devastatingly
poignant the film would have been if we could have heard the tortured
resignation in her voice when, on the eve of a trial that will surely
condemn her, she admits she cares not what becomes of her. The
contributions from Garbo's co-stars Conrad Nagel and Anders Randolf are
equally deserving of praise, and Lew Ayres makes an impressive screen
debut, just before taking on his most memorable role in Lewis
Milestone's
All Quiet on the Western Front
(1930). Jacques Feyder would direct Garbo one more time, in the
German language version of
Anna
Christie (1931), after which he soon became disillusioned with
Hollywood and returned to France, to direct three of his greatest
films:
Le Grand jeu (1934),
Pension Mimosas (1935) and
La Kermesse héroïque
(1935). By this time, Garbo had found her voice - and what a
voice...
© James Travers 2011
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Jacques Feyder film:
Le Grand jeu (1934)
Film Synopsis
Irène is a young French woman who is trapped in a loveless
marriage with an older man, businessman Charles Guarry. For some
time, she has been pursuing an intense love affair with lawyer
André Dubail, but rather than leave her husband she decides
instead to end the affair. Irène unwittingly draws the
attention of Pierre Lassalle, the 18-year-old son of a business
associate of her husband. Pierre claims to be madly in love with
Irène but she knows that it is merely a passing
infatuation. On the eve of Pierre's return to college,
Irène allows the young man to give her a parting kiss. The
innocent embrace is witnessed by Irène's husband who, in a
jealous frenzy, attacks Pierre. In the ensuing struggle a gun
goes off and Charles Guarry is shot dead. When Irène is
arrested for her husband's murder she reluctantly allows André
to defend her at her trial. Fearing that she may lose the
only man she has ever loved, Irène can hardly bring herself to
tell the truth...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.