Review of The Kiss

The Kiss (1896)
7/10
Quite funny actually
2 August 2006
A popular short film from the Edison Manufacturing Company is 'The Kiss', which stars Broadway stars May Irwin and John C. Rice shows these two people kissing as in their musical 'The Widow Jones'. It was the first kiss in the movies, causing immediate controversy (some found it pornographic) and the first call for censorship. Seeing it today we can hardly understand that; the two look rather innocent. The scene itself is even a little funny.

From its first film the Edison Manufacturing Company has produced over a thousand of short films. The most famous is probably 'The Great Train Robbery', considered to be the first western, even though it was shot in New Jersey. The Brothers Lumière and Georges Méliès did their part in developing the cinema in France, Edison and later D.W. Griffith were their American counterparts.

As for the single shot films from the Edison Manufacturing Company, they are all historically interesting. For some reason those from Lumière have a higher entertainment value, if that's what you should call it, but that does not mean they are more important (and 'The Kiss' is an exception actually). The Edison Manufacturing Company's short films existing out of multiple scenes belong to the highpoint of American cinema.
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