THE SCREEN KISS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 January 1940, Page 8

THE SCREEN KISS

IS IT OF VALUE. Hollywood directors are divided on the question of whether the kiss is of value to pictures. Some directors insist that the kiss has outlived its usefulness as a romantic factor and that it should be cut out of all love scenes. Other directors are keen supporters of the kids, and declare that if the expected fade-out clinch is omitted movies will not be popular. William Wyler, who produced that love tragedy “Wuthering Heights,” does no believe that kissing is a necessity in motion pictures. “The kiss is outdated,” he said. “Up to a little while ago we always designed eight reels of film to culminate in that last osculatory clinch which signified the end of the picture. Today, however, we must be more subtle. We are catering to audiences that do not want their drama painted with a thick brush. The torrid embrace typical of the early Rudolph Valentino films would be laughed out of theatres today. Recent re-issues of Valentino”s old pictures clearly proved that. Young people nowadays jeer at this sickly sentiment, and the adults feel a trifle embarrassed when too much footage is devoted to it. I might add that kissing is merely incidental in most Hollywood pictures today. We have as a matter of fact reduced kissing footage to an almost negligiblie factor. We allow not more than two seconds where formerly we allowed 10 to 15.’” Wylie points out that he achieved his best love scenes in “Wuthering Heights” without resorting to the kiss. “The love expressed between Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon was on a mental basis. It was played with looks more than action,” he said. "The movie kiss belonged to the pie-throwing era of films, when exaggerated sentiment and comedy were necessary. In a few years’ time it will be obsolete.” Leo M’Carey, director of “Love Affair” ("The Nearest Thing to Heaven”), is another who is convinced that screen kissing is definitely on its way out. Realists who still insist that the demonstration of the kiss itself is necessary to the proper interpretation of love on the screen are such successful directors as Ernst Lubitsch, Edmund Goulding and Michael Curtiz. All three are advocates of sophisticated drama and become almost fastidious about the kissing scenes of their pictures. "The kiss is still important and always will be in the portrayal of sentiment and emotion,” Curtiz declared. “But if I interfere to much the spell is gone. If I do nothing the players bungle me. I tell them how to kiss, rehearse them in their lines, and then watch them play it. Sometimes the scene is good; usually it is poor and must be done again.” Meanwhile the puppets of Hollywood remain totally unconcerned about the hubbub. The screen kiss has no interest to them. The gestures represent much thought on the part of actors, director, cameramen, boom boy, makeup specialists, and even the electricians, who must light the proceedings so the kiss can be properly photographed. There have been isolated instances where real love blossomed from screen association, but the kisses exchanged before the camera have never played much part in those romances.