A Kiss in the Dark | |
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Directed by | Frank Tuttle |
Screenplay by | Townsend Martin (scenario) |
Based on | Aren't We All? 1923 play by Frederick Lonsdale |
Produced by | Jesse L. Lasky Adolph Zukor |
Starring | Adolphe Menjou Aileen Pringle Lillian Rich Kenneth MacKenna Ann Pennington Kitty Kelly Zeppo Marx |
Cinematography | Alvin Wyckoff |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 60 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
A Kiss in the Dark is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle and written by Townsend Martin based upon a novel by Frederick Lonsdale. The film stars Adolphe Menjou, Aileen Pringle, Lillian Rich, Kenneth MacKenna, Ann Pennington, Kitty Kelly, and Zeppo Marx. The film was released on April 6, 1925, by Paramount Pictures. [1] [2] [3]
As described in a film magazine review, [4] a gay philanderer has one flirtation after another. When he really falls in love with a beautiful young woman, she refuses to take him seriously until he proves his fidelity by patching up a quarrel between a married couple, who are friends of the lovers.
This film is historically notable for the appearance of Zeppo Marx of the Marx Brothers. He is credited by his birth name, Herbert Marx. This was the only film in which Zeppo stars without his brothers. (His older brother Harpo made his solo film debut a three months earlier in the similarly titled Too Many Kisses .) Neither of the two recovered reels feature Zeppo, but Marx researcher Robert Moulton uncovered a 1925 review in an Ohio newspaper listing a credit for "...Herbert Marx, one of the Marx brothers in the 'I'll Say She Is' company." A review for the film from the New York Sun dated April 7, 1925 praises Zeppo's performance: "Miss Pennington and Mr. Marx have only brief appearances, but they make them count." [5]
A Kiss in the Dark was considered to be a lost film for decades, until two of its six reels were discovered by a private collector. [6] [7]
The Marx Brothers was an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' fourteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) as among the top 100 comedy films, with two of them, Duck Soup (1933) and A Night at the Opera (1935), in the top fifteen. They are widely considered by critics, scholars and fans to be among the greatest and most influential comedians of the 20th century. The brothers were included in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classical Hollywood cinema, the only performers to be included collectively.
Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's A Woman of Paris, where he played the lead role; Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory with Kirk Douglas; Ernst Lubitsch's The Marriage Circle; The Sheik with Rudolph Valentino; Morocco with Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper; and A Star Is Born with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, and was nominated for an Academy Award for The Front Page in 1931.
Herbert Manfred "Zeppo" Marx was an American comedic actor, theatrical agent and engineer. He was the youngest and last survivor of the five Marx Brothers. He appeared in the first five Marx Brothers feature films from 1929 to 1933, and then left the act for careers as an engineer and theatrical agent.
A Social Celebrity is a 1926 American silent comedy drama film directed by Malcolm St. Clair and starred Louise Brooks as a small town manicurist who goes to New York City with her boyfriend, a barber who poses as a French count. The film is now considered lost.
Too Many Kisses is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by Paul Sloane that is based on the John Monk Saunders story "A Maker of Gestures."
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Blonde or Brunette is a surviving 1927 silent film comedy directed by Richard Rosson, produced by Famous Players–Lasky and released by Paramount Pictures. It stars Adolphe Menjou, Greta Nissen and Arlette Marchal.
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Lost: A Wife is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by William C. deMille and written by Clara Beranger based upon a play by Clare Kummer and Alfred Savoir. The film stars Adolphe Menjou, Greta Nissen, Robert Agnew, Edgar Norton, Mario Carillo, and Genaro Spagnoli. The film was released on July 13, 1925, by Paramount Pictures.
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Serenade is a lost 1927 American drama silent film directed by Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast and written by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Ernest Vajda. The film stars Adolphe Menjou, Kathryn Carver, Lawrence Grant, Lina Basquette and Martha Franklin. The film was released on December 24, 1927, by Paramount Pictures.
Courage is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by Sidney Franklin and starring Naomi Childers, Sam De Grasse and Adolphe Menjou. It was distributed by First National Pictures.