Le baiser

The Kiss (1929) was the final silent film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was also the final silent film of stars Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel.

The subtle acting and sophisticated (and purely visual) storytelling show how far silent cinema had come by the late 1920s. When talkies took over Hollywood, the acting regressed back to that of the stage, the background music was replaced with static hiss, and even basic film-making techniques were restrained due to the sound equipment. It would take a few years for sound technology to grow in sophistication.

Removed from its distinction as the end of an era, The Kiss is an average melodrama, especially for Garbo, who plays an unhappily married woman in love with another man. She looks luminous and acts completely with her eyes, her brilliance showing through even in material such as this. Conrad Nagel is competent in an unchallenging role, and Lew Ayres is simultaneously adorable and somewhat sinister as the young man smitten with Garbo.

The big twist is predictable and the recorded score is cheesy, using Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet theme as the lovers' leitmotif, but overall, this is a skillfully made bit of melodramatic fluff, the last gasp of MGM's silent output.