The Deciding Kiss
1918 film
- July 22, 1918 (1918-07-22)
Running time
The Deciding Kiss is a 1918 American comedy film directed by Tod Browning. The film was considered a lost film for decades.[1] A print was discovered at the French archive Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée in Fort de Bois-d'Arcy.[2]
Plot
As described in a film magazine,[3] Eleanor Hamlin (Roberts), who has been living with an old and impoverished couple, is adopted by two couples, Mr. and Mrs. Sears and Beulah Page (Greenwood) and Peter Bolling (Unterkircher), young people who have read of cooperative parenting and wish to try out the theory. It works very well until Jimmy Sears (Cooley) loses control of himself under the spell of his adopted daughter's kisses. This passes, however, but then Peter falls in love with her. Beulah then tells Eleanor that she is engaged to Peter, and the heart-broken little girl goes back home. After an exhaustive search, Peter fails to find her, and he and Beulah complete their engagement. Eleanor returns, sees the true state of things, and asks God to let her be always their little girl.
Cast
- Edith Roberts as Eleanor Hamlin
- Winifred Greenwood as Beulah Page
- Hallam Cooley as Jimmy Sears (credited as Hal Cooley)
- Hans Unterkircher as Peter Bolling (credited as Thornton Church)
- Lottie Kruse (as Lottie Kruze)
- Edmund Cobb (credited as Edwin Cobb)
- William Courtright (credited as William Cartwright)
Reception
Like many American films of the time, The Deciding Kiss was subject to restrictions and cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required, in Reel 4, that the kissing scene at the piano be shortened by eliminating the last half.[4]
References
- ^ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Deciding Kiss". silentera.com. Retrieved May 5, 2008.
- ^ The Library of Congress/FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Deciding Kiss
- ^ "Reviews: The Deciding Kiss". Exhibitors Herald. 7 (6). New York City: Exhibitors Herald Company: 33. August 3, 1918.
- ^ "Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors". Exhibitors Herald. 7 (9): 36. August 24, 1918.
External links
- The Deciding Kiss at IMDb
- Kelly, Ethel M. (1917), Turn About Eleanor, Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, on the Internet Archive
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Films directed by Tod Browning
- The Lucky Transfer (1915)
- The Slave Girl (1915)
- An Image of the Past (1915)
- The Highbinders (1915)
- The Story of a Story (1915)
- The Spell of the Poppy (1915)
- The Electric Alarm (1915)
- The Living Death (1915)
- The Burned Hand (1915)
- The Woman from Warren's (1915)
- Little Marie (1915)
- The Fatal Glass of Beer (1916)
- Everybody's Doing It (1916)
- Puppets (1916)
- Jim Bludso (1917)
- A Love Sublime (1917)
- Hands Up! (1917)
- Peggy, the Will O' the Wisp (1917)
- The Jury of Fate (1917)
- The Legion of Death (1918)
- The Eyes of Mystery (1918)
- Revenge (1918)
- Which Woman? (1918)
- The Deciding Kiss (1918)
- The Brazen Beauty (1918)
- Set Free (1918)
- The Wicked Darling (1919)
- The Exquisite Thief (1919)
- The Unpainted Woman (1919)
- The Petal on the Current (1919)
- Bonnie, Bonnie Lassie (1919)
- The Virgin of Stamboul (1920)
- Outside the Law (1920)
- No Woman Knows (1921)
- The Wise Kid (1922)
- Man Under Cover (1922)
- Under Two Flags (1922)
- Drifting (1923)
- The Day of Faith (1923)
- White Tiger (1923)
- The Dangerous Flirt (1924)
- Silk Stocking Sal (1924)
- The Unholy Three (1925)
- The Mystic (1925)
- Dollar Down (1925)
- The Blackbird (1926)
- The Road to Mandalay (1926)
- The Show (1927)
- The Unknown (1927)
- London After Midnight (1927)
- The Big City (1928)
- West of Zanzibar (1928)
- Where East Is East (1929)
- The Thirteenth Chair (1929)
- Outside the Law (1930)
- Dracula (1931)
- Iron Man (1931)
- Freaks (1932)
- Fast Workers (1933)
- Mark of the Vampire (1935)
- The Devil-Doll (1936)
- Miracles for Sale (1939)
