The Kiss (1896 film)

• May Irwin: Widow Jones
• John C. Rice: Billie Bikes

The Kiss ( Original title: The Kiss, also: The May Irwin Kiss, The Rice - Irwin Kiss and The Widow Jones). 's An American film directed by William Heise from 1896 in just one setting, the romantic final scene of the Broadway musical The Widow Jones readjusted and thus shows the first kissing scene in film history.

Background

After the great success of the films the end of 1895 publicly listed by the brothers Lumière, the U.S. inventor and film producer Thomas Alva Edison quickly realized that marketed by him Kinetoscope, a kind of proscenium, have against the projected films would be no future. He, therefore, production in spring 1896 with the newly formed company Vita Scope films for this new way of watching movies.

In April 1896 filmed William Heise, who was responsible for the production of the Edison films after the departure of William KL Dickson, a scene that was inspired by the final scene of the then very popular play The Widow Jones. The approximately 20 seconds short film shows a close-up, the two stage actor May Irwin and John C. Rice in an intimate embrace, which eventually ends with a kiss. This scene was filmed on behalf of the New York daily newspaper New York World, also published stills from The Kiss ( and according to its own statement, was the first newspaper that had printed a kiss on a title page ).

The kiss became Edison's most successful Vita Scope movie in the 1890s. More than one year, the film was listed in the entire United States. In Edison's catalog was advertised that The Kiss " sparked a standing ovation every time ." However, there were also critical voices who saw something amoral in this movie. The new medium of film, which was then still a fairground attraction, had his first kiss with the scandal.

The simple subject of The Kiss was often imitated in the following years, Edison's production company even made ​​1900 a remake ago, and some of the first attempts of film editing had similar kissing scenes - embedded in other acts - on the topic (eg, George Albert Smith's The Kiss in the tunnel, 1899). Today, The Kiss is considered the most famous American film of the 19th century.

Awards

1999 The Kiss in the National Film Registry was incorporated as particularly worthy of preservation film.