Fri 19 Aug 2016
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: THE KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR (1933).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[5] Comments
THE KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR. Universal, 1933. Nancy Carroll, Frank Morgan, Paul Lukas, Gloria Stuart, Jean Dixon, Donald Cook, Charles Grapewin, Walter Pidgeon. Director: James Whale. Shown at Cinevent 16, Columbus OH, May 1984.
The special treat of the weekend was a showing of James Whale’s The Kiss Before the Mirror, with one of those fine performances Frank Morgan gave consistently before he was typecast by MGM, acting with an intelligence and intensity that would undoubtedly surprise the fans of his 40s films.
Here he is a lawyer defending his best friend on a murder charge, accused of killing his wife at a lovers’ tryst. Morgan has discovered that his own wife has a lover, and his defense of his friend (Paul Lukas) mirrors his own dilemma and the defense that might be mounted for him as he feels himself drawn toward a similar crime. The courtroom sequence is brilliantly directed, and it has the most unsettling movie climax I’ve witnessed since Carrie rose suddenly out of her grave in Brian DePalma’s contemporary shocker.
And in the first 10 minutes of the film there is one of those stylized Whale landscapes that have haunted me from my first contact with with his Bride of Frankenstein in a movie trailer in the thirties.
August 21st, 2016 at 8:23 am
Considering his short career, it’s remarkable that Whale remade this film (in 1938, as WIVES UNDER SUSPICION) and a bit sad that the remake was so routine.
August 21st, 2016 at 1:03 pm
I watched this on YouTube and was quite impressed. It was a film I was unaware of, though I knew Morgan did some dramatic leads before becoming the familiar character actor we know.
It’s always a little shocking to see stars we think of in certain ways out of character so to speak. Nigel Bruce as the canny sleuth in MURDER IN TRINIDAD, Alan Hale playing villains, Wallace Berry as Professor Challenger or King Richard in silent films, or Myrna Loy as a perverse Asian femme fatale or coochie dancer.
August 22nd, 2016 at 9:22 am
I’d never heard of this movie, either, and I was intrigued enough to follow David’s tip and find it on YouTube. For everyone’s benefit, here it is:
August 24th, 2016 at 9:16 am
The celebration of murder, something we can all empathize with, from the point of view of miscast male and female actors, pretending to be sexual objects. Well, Gloria Stuart and Walter Pidgeon were fine in the first few moments, and the direction displayed their charm, but nowhere and nothing else. Although charmless jean Dixon, was not only well cast, but so fine we wish there had been a little more of her, and less of Morgan and Lukas.
August 26th, 2016 at 12:31 pm
Follow Up.
The viewpoint reminds me of the Jean Harris murder of Dr. Tarnower and the public support for Jean. Unhappiness and rejection do not justify murder. In the Kiss Before The Mirror, and in real life as well, it seems they do.