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Surprisingly incoherent and boring

i must have seen a different film!!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I've got to admit up front that I have long felt that Greta Garbo was a bit overrated as an actress. All too often, she was stuck in super-melodramatic films involving either adultery or with Garbo playing an irresistible "super-vamp". While the public loved this persona, the films seemed quite derivative and clichéd. There are only so many films like this you can watch until they blend together.Fortunately, she also made some dandy films like NINOTCHKA, QUEEN Christina and THE KISS. While superficially the film seems just like another adultery film, Garbo was given better material--as she was a woman who WANTED to commit adultery but couldn't bring herself to cheat on her much older husband. I'm glad the film didn't pursue this expected plot line but instead the film is about the consequences when the husband THINKS she's cheating on him when she isn't. This led to a dandy finale where there is a nice plot twist.Overall, this film excelled because Garbo did NOT stare in a pained way into space as she so often did in films where she played a married woman trapped in a loveless marriage. Here, she plays a more believable and well-rounded personality--someone who seemed much more human than the usual Garbo character.With good production values and only one minor problem (a repetitive and sappy soundtrack), this is well worth a look.

The last silent film of the 20s is a perfect showcase to reveal succinctly and gloriously exactly why this cinematic form was a genuine work of living breathing visual art. Basically a 64 minute glamorous murder mystery of love gone wrong and love misinterpreted THE KISS was Garbo's silent farewell to the 20s too, before "just gimme a scotch baby" or whatever slutty thing she mumbled in 1930 set the tone for talkies. I saw this on a double feature with the astonishing and romantic 1929 talkie drama The Divorcée which I also heartily seriously recommend for students of the age and genre. SO modern! Anyway, THE KISS has committed to everlasting celluloid imagery of one of the most perfect moments in film history...and this is not a spoiler, in fact a great reason for you to find and enjoy this gorgeous film: teenager Lew Ayres has fallen in love with Greta; it is his besotted first time and she is exquisite anyway...so imagine the focus and impact for this charming boy. His tennis match with her at her home has her playfully leaping about laughing and being his friend too. At the end of the game, as they leave the court, she is delighted to be with him and playfully kisses him. So stunned at this impromptu expression of affection, he returns the kiss, and lets his emotions escape. She realises and for a brief moment has THE KISS before stopping it short. Estranged husband has seen all from the drawing room. But the focus here is also on Lew actually unexpectedly getting what he has only dreamed about. She turns away to go to the house and the camera lingers on Lew. So overwhelmed, he privately begins to cry at the enormity and perfection of what has just happened. There isn't a person on the planet who would not have had the same reaction..and this wise and almost perfect film clearly includes us all in on this act and reaction. Sooo genuinely beautiful. Find it. Love it. Kiss it even.... A murder mystery ensues....

"The Kiss" happens about midway into the movie ... Greta Garbo gives young admirer Lew Ayres a friendly kiss goodbye as he's about to leave town, Ayres, who cannot control his infatuation with the beautiful Garbo, goes in for another, less platonic kiss, at which point Garbo's husband sees them from afar and goes berserk. A fight amongst the three ensues, gets carried into another room where the door is shut to us, the audience, and we hear a shot. Garbo's husband is dead, but who did it? Prior to the "kiss" moment, we've seen Garbo and her lover (Conrad Nagel) in a torturous romance ... they both love each other madly but Greta doesn't see any way out of her loveless marriage. In the meantime, Lew Ayres follows Greta around like a puppy dog; he's an 18-year-old completely infatuated with the beautiful married lady.The latter half of the movie deals with the investigation of the husband's death, Greta's arrest, and her trial where she is defended by Nagel who in addition to being her former lover is also a lawyer.I won't give away the outcome of the trial, but I will say that the jury believes it is Person A who did it and after the trial we learn it was Person B.The musical score to this flick was absolutely horrible. I especially could have done without the "Romeo and Juliet" theme that was played every time the flick wanted to telegraph Greta's and Conrad's love to the audience.Despite the score, this was a very enjoyable silent movie. I find some silents tedious, others quite well done. "The Kiss" definitely falls into the latter category. Worth watching.

By the time "The Kiss" was made, Garbo was an established >superstar, and her films were specially tailored vehicles to >enhance this stardom. Yet, surprisingly, French director Jacques >Feyder subordinates Garbo to a rather pedestrian murder mystery. >Even worse, he cuts away from "the kiss" (between Garbo & Lew >Ayers) referenced in the title. M-G-M might have been too >worried over Garbo's imminent entrance into talkies to care. >The film is notable for its fantastic Art Deco sets, but also >suffers from one of the worst contemporary Movietone scores of >any late silent feature. A mixed bag.