THE KISS

(1929, Jacques Feyder) Lovesick schoolboy Lew Ayres (All Quiet on the Western Front) tries to lock lips with unhappy wife Garbo — then her jealous husband turns up dead. MGM's final silent was wildly designed in High Deco style, with French great Feyder's visuals filling in the blanks during a tour-de-force police grilling. Print courtesy Library of Congress.

REVIEWS

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"A MASTERPIECE! Feyder's style was a paradoxical blend of realism and pictorialism; seen here at its best, it's uniquely affecting."
– Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

"One of Garbo's most memorable films. Combines characteristic studio gloss (art direction by Cedric Gibbons, luminous close-ups by William Daniels) with a genuine feeling for her mixture of erotic glamour and doomy passion."
– Geoff Andrew, Time Out (London)

"Represents the silent cinema at the very zenith of its achievements... The art-direction is out of Mr. Gibbons' most bizarre top-drawer, and features some of the most untenable living rooms – and some of the most impractical pieces of furniture – that even he has devised."
– William K. Everson