A century ago film stars were more popular and more adored than they are today. This might be explained not only by novelty of the medium, but with cinema being silent and allowing actors to easily transcend linguistic, national and, in some cases, even ideological barriers, thus enjoying global power and sway that is difficult to imagine in our times. One of the films that can serve as testimony to such phenomenon is A Kiss from Mary Pickford, 1927 Soviet silent comedy directed by Sergey Komarov.
The protagonist, played by Igor Ilynskiy, is Goga Palkin, cinema theatre usher who is in love with Dusya Galkina (played by Anel Sudakevich), aspiring, but not very talented actress. She is, however, in love in famous American film star Douglas Fairbanks, and tells Goga that she would never be with someone who is not famous. Goga decides to become famous and goes to institute that can apparently transform ordinary people into celebrities. After being subjected to strange tests and bizarre procedures, he receives certificate that allows him to find job of a stuntman in a film studio. This coincides with visit of Fairbanks and his wife Mary Pickford (both playing themselves in cameo) to Moscow. Pickford is talked into playing the love scene with Goga, introduced as top stuntman. She kisses him and that immediately transforms Goga into someone Dusya wants. Goga likes his celebrity, but not after he and Dusya suddenly become mobbed by small army of crazed fans, thrilled with Mary Pickford’s lipstick on Goga’s face.
A Kiss from Mary Pickford was a film that could have been made only in very specific point in time. It all began in 1926 when Fairbanks and Pickford, who had been silent cinema’s supercouple at the time, visited Soviet Union during their world tour. Mezrabprom, which was top Soviet film studio at the time, recorded the event and also talked Pickford into kissing Ilinsky, who was one of popular film comedians. Later, Komarov and his co-writer Vadim Sheshernevich simply built the entire plot around that scene. A Kiss from Mary Pickford is a in many ways “high concept” comedy, but made very competently. It is relatively short, slightly under an hour of running time, but plot goes relatively fast, there are some interesting stunts and slapstick jokes. Ilinsky is quite comfortable in his role, easily entertaining viewers and winning their hearts, while Anel Sudakevich also shows comedic talent. Some of the gags don’t look that impressive from today’s perspective, and the reference to Harry Piel, German actor who was famous for his stunt work (and later infamous from joining SS during Nazi era), might be lost to most of the audience. People who appreciate film history could also see A Kiss from Mary Pickford as some sort of time capsule of Moscow during New Economic Policy (NEP), period when the Soviet regime was more relaxed than in latter times and when fashion and attitudes weren’t that different from those in Western countries. Although quite entertaining, A Kiss from Mary Pickford can be seen more as curiosity as an film by its own merit.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo
InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fRc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax y
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
Posted using CineTV