Kiss Me Again (1931) User Reviews

Modest "Modiste"

[marcslope · 6/10 · 29 May 2001]

Victor Herbert's tune-filled 1905 operetta "Mlle. Modiste" is cut to about half its length and drastically rewritten by the Hollywood know-it-alls, but it's still a melodic and lighthearted little picture. Benefit-of-hindsight bonuses include Edward Everett Horton butching it up as a soldier and Frank McHugh mincing around in the effeminate-comic role (maybe they should have switched parts), a stolid Walter Pidgeon warbling a little, and most of the unsung Herbert songs at least surviving as background score. Bernice Claire, who might have supplanted Jeanette MacDonald as First Diva of the Screen if her career timing were better, is a charmer -- spirited, pretty (she looks like Julie Andrews) and with a bell-clear soprano, nicely captured by the early sound equipment.

It was one of the last operettas made in the genre's first cycle, and too many musicals spoiled the box-office. But it's better-paced and less pretentious than most of its kind.

For Operetta and Frank McHugh Fans Only

[alonzoiii-1 · 4/10 · 22 September 2006]

In this operetta, Walter Pigeon (who wasn't young, even in 1931) and Edward Everett Horton (!!) are two soldiers in love. Walter loves a shop-girl (who sings a lot). Edward loves Walter's arranged fiancée. Walt loses his girl, because papa writes her a check, and she uses it (after appropriate soul searching) to launch her opera career. Edward's in danger of losing her girl because the arranged marriage is going forward. Will true love triumph?

The musical numbers are OK, though sung in an operatic style that some may like, but most moviegoers now hate. The staging is very static. As for plot and acting -- nothing very good or very bad. Because Edward Everett Horton has a role outside of his usual range, he's subdued and seems a bit uncomfortable.

The bright spot here is Frank McHugh as the Brooklyn accented "Francois", who gets a comic number to himself in the opening reels. He shouts more than sings, but it's decent Broadway style singing. He also, in the same number, gets to parade about in drag. This is quite funny, and if you're in the right mood, worth seeing. His role, however, is entirely peripheral to the plot, and his speaking style is wackily out of place.

Oklahoma - is it just me?

[rayresnyc · 6/10 · 12 February 2022]

Sounds to me loike the music to Oklahoma stole some melodies from this movie (really the play). Terrible to see Walter Pidgeon's early (very bad) acting.

Despite some excellent talent in the film, it's pretty awful and hard to enjoy...unless you skip past all the musical numbers!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 12 May 2022]

I think my score of 3 might just be generous for this movie....as it's really, really bad. To make it worse, the film has some amazing actors in the film. However, the godawful musical numbers are so bad and so hard on your ears that even the best actors couldn't make this one work! Yes, the likes of Edward Everett Horton, Frank McHugh, Walter Pidgeon and Claude Gillingwater* couldn't make this one work!

The film is supposedly about French folks, but you'll never hear anything close to resembling a French accent in the film. It's a film about a Legionnaire (Pidgeon) falling for a cabaret singer...and the father (Gillingwater) refusing to allow the marriage. As for Bernice Claire, she plays the woman...and her acting isn't bad but when she began singing my dog attempted suicide several times! Yes, her operatic style and the songs were just awful and you need to hear them to believe them!! My daughter also heard a few songs and said something like "Why are you torturing yourself with this movie?!"....and that pretty much sums it up. It's a movie with nice acting and a decent plot...but the singing is just horrible. This film is one of the reasons why after a plethora of musicals in the late 20s and early 30s, Hollywood stopped making so many for a few years until they realized the public did enjoy musicals...provided they didn't stink!

*While very, very few people would know his name, Gillingwater made a career out of playing old sour pusses...and he was great at it! He really was amazing playing such parts and here he's at his best.

It's too bad the two-strip Technicolor print is lost...

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 2 April 2011]

... because only the visual drabness of the remaining black and white print drags down this early talkie musical. Walter Pidgeon as Paul and Edward Everett Hornton as Rene are two French soldiers in Paris between foreign assignments. Paul has an arranged marriage in his future in the person of Marie, but Paul doesn't much care for the arrangements as he is in love with shop girl Fifi (Bernice Claire). Likewise Rene and Marie are in love. Fifi works in the high fashion shop of the elegant Madame Cecile, who for some inexplicable reason married, and for some even more inexplicable reason still keeps around after the divorce her ex-husband Francois (Frank McHugh) who keeps her shop in chaos with the kind of antics that will be familiar to you if you've seen McHugh's later comic work at Warners. Claude Gillingham and Albert Gran play the fathers of Paul and Marie, respectively, who would never allow true love to stand in the way of their arranged wedding plans. This is the setup of the very unremarkable plot.

However, plot was never really the point of this early talkie operetta. The point was comedy and good tunes and good fun, and at that it succeeds quite well. Don't let any other possible bad experiences with early talkie musicals deter you from watching this one - it's one of the best of the first generation of musicals. Even Claude Gillingham's talent at cinematic grouchiness is turned into an opportunity for a memorable song, and Edward Everett Hornton, with a song in his heart if not on his lips and underneath all of that ridiculous Technicolor makeup is still Edward Everett Hornton who is always uniquely hilarious as he verbally takes you through whatever predicament he happens to be in. As someone else mentioned, the singer of note here is Bernice Claire as Fifi who inexplicably disappeared from motion pictures in the early 30's. Her voice is right up there with Jeanette McDonald's.

The only bad thing I have to say is that because the Technicolor print is lost and only black and white remains, some of the scenes and shots do not make sense. In Technicolor no doubt the dance numbers and long shots of production numbers would have been a feast for the eyes with their oranges, pinks, blues, and greens. Since film choreography at this time is pretty much non-existent what remains are shots of dancing girls moving about rather slowly, no doubt so you could get a look at their costumes which in black and white are nothing to write home about.

Highly recommended for the early talkie musical enthusiast.

Beautiful Bernice Claire!!!

[kidboots · 9/10 · 21 November 2011]

Who knows - if the time had been right it may have been Bernice Claire receiving all the praise that eventually fell to Jeanette MacDonald. Unfortunately when Bernice was discovered the first musical vogue was disappearing and she was dropped before she got a chance to show what she could do!!! She was billed as "The Screen's Youngest Prima Donna" and her voice is just out of this world but the decision to delay the release of what was originally known as "The Toast of the Legion" may have been due to the now rising hostility against musicals. So despite favourable reviews "Kiss Me Again" (renamed after the hit song of the show) faded from sight almost instantly. Unfortunate because the film had many qualities missing from too many of it's contemporaries. Smooth direction from William A. Seiter, fluid camera work by Lee Garmes, a not over long running time of 74 minutes, a nicely interpolated score by Victor Herbert and dazzling sets by Anton Grot. Bernice Claire was so appealing and brought a freshness to her character, a role that had first been performed in 1905. But although "Kiss Me Again" was designed to showcase Miss Claire's charms, she was, unfortunately, long gone from Warners by the time of it's release.

After a beautiful fashion show - "Clothes Parade", the familiar Cinderella plot follows the story of Fifi (Claire), a Parisian shop girl who loves titled Legionnaire Captain Paul (Walter Pidgeon) while his grumpy father, The Count (Claude Gillingwater) has matched him up with Marie (sweet June Collyer) who, in her turn, loves another - Rene (Edward Everett Horton), Paul's comic offsider.

Warner's classed this movie as an event, so it was one of the rare "All Technicolor" entries ("Sally" was another) - this meant that apart from a washed out look, the women are made up like painted dolls. This would be fine if the film was in color, unfortunately the only print available is a black and white TV print. Paul wants to take Fifi away from the shops but she wants a career as a singer and she proves her voice is splendid with the trilling "Kiss Me Again" (which is reprised several times during the movie). Frank McHugh is actually funny in this movie - he plays Francois, the ex husband of dress shop owner Cecile and, as he calls himself, a "woman waiter" - he tells of his troubles in the riotous "A Make Believe Ladie's Man".

When the Count calls on Fifi (he has heard rumors of Paul's dalliance) he convinces her to give him up for the honour of the family and also gives her 30,000 francs which Fifi puts towards her operatic career. A couple of years later, now known as Bellini, the toast of the opera world, she wows the soldiers with her "Mascot of the Troops". Walter Pidgeon was still known as a husky baritone - his leading man days still in the future - but he didn't get to "strut his stuff" in this movie. He was only given one chorus of "How Great the Sorrow" as he vowed never to stop searching for his beloved Fifi. His song "The Time, the Place and the Girl" was cut.

Unbeknownst to the Count, who invites the famous Bellini to sing at a party celebrating Paul's return from his regiment - no one knows her real identity. Gillingwater who was in the original 1905 production when it was "Mlle. Modiste" gets to sing "I Want What I Want When I Want It" - all about having to put up with healthy food. One of the movie highlights, for me, is the dance sequence featuring the exotic Sisters G. They were a Berlin cabaret act who were bought over for "The King of Jazz" and created a sensation with their surreal act in "Happy Feet". Here with feathers and dreamy costumes reminiscent of the Dolly Sisters, they dance and cavort to a medley of songs including the brilliant "Pan Americana" and "Air De Ballet". Alls well that ends well - Paul is soon reunited with Fifi and as they are carried aloft the film finishes with a chorus of "Kiss Me Again".

"Kiss Me Again" quietly completed the first riotous cycle of musicals. It would be 2 months before another musical ("The Hot Heiress") was released.