Kiss Me Again (1931 film)

Kiss Me Again is a 1931 American Pre-Code musical operetta film filmed entirely in Technicolor. It was originally released in the United States as Toast of the Legion late in 1930, but was quickly withdrawn when Warner Bros. realized that the public had grown weary of musicals. The Warner Bros. believed that this attitude would only last for a few months, but, when the public proved obstinate, they reluctantly re-released the film early in 1931 after making a few cuts to the film.[1][2]

Kiss Me Again
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWilliam A. Seiter
Written byJulien Josephson
Paul Perez
based on the operetta by Victor Herbert and Henry Martyn Blossom.
StarringBernice Claire
Walter Pidgeon
Edward Everett Horton
Frank McHugh
June Collyer
Music byVictor Herbert
CinematographyLee Garmes
Alfred Gilks (Technicolor)
Edited byAlexander Hall
Distributed byFirst National Pictures: A Subsidiary of Warner Bros.
Release date
  • February 21, 1931 (1931-02-21)
Running time
76 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Like the 1926 silent First National film Mademoiselle Modiste, Kiss Me Again is based on a popular 1905 operetta on Broadway, Mlle. Modiste, by Victor Herbert and Henry Martyn Blossom.[3][4][5]

Plot

A French shopgirl (Bernice Claire) obeys her parents by leaving her lover to become an opera star.

Music

When the film was re-released in 1931, most of Walter Pidgeon's songs were cut from the film. Only a small abbreviated version of one of his songs is heard on the existing print.

Songs
  • Ah! But in Dreams So Fair
  • Alas! To Part, How Great the Sorrow
  • I Want What I Want When I Want It
  • If I Were On the Stage
  • Kiss Me Again
  • The Mascot of the Troop
  • Clothes Parade
  • A Make Believe Ladies Man
  • Pan Americana
  • Ballet Medley
  • Air de Ballet
  • The Time, the Place and the Girl

Preservation

Only a black-and-white copy of the cut print released in 1931 in the United States seems to have survived. The complete film was released intact in countries outside the United States under the title of Toast of the Legion where a backlash against musicals never occurred. It is unknown whether a copy of this full version still exists.

Cast

See also

References
  1. The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1931-40 by The American Film Institute, c. 1993
  2. The AFI Catalog of Feature Films 1893-1993:Kiss Me Again
  3. Brennan, Sandra. "Kiss Me Again (1931), AllMovie, accessed November 8, 2015
  4. Mlle. Modiste, on Broadway, Internet Broadway Database, accessed November 8, 2015
  5. Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History, p. 351. Psychology Press, 2003 ISBN 0-415-96641-8


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