# Smooching in old flicks--explain! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540 "2005-06-30T16:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/21 "2005-06-30T18:12:12Z")
The OP doesn’t help matters at all by not telling us the movie or either of the stars. There are plenty of convincing, passionate kissing scenes in old movies (even closed-mouth ones) but it all depended on the chemistry of the actors. Try not making a huge sweeping generalization on just one example… ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/22 "2005-06-30T18:43:15Z")
True, can’t remember the movie. Alas. But the specific movie is actually not the issue here. It’s a problem I’ve had forever. Even when passionate actors pull the pursed lip kiss it looks ridiculous, so I was wondering what I could learn about open-mouthed movie kisses, why they were apparently so shocking, and who finally did something about it. I mean, have you tried to kiss like this? Even if Clark Gable kissed you that, you’d think it was your grandma. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/23 "2005-06-30T19:00:47Z")
“Excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures, are not to be shown.” From the [Hays Code](http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html) of 1930. That doesn’t explain It Happened One Night, made in 1934, and (IMHO) pretty hot, what with Claudette Colbert showing leg to hitch a ride, and then hanging around a motel room in her slip. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/24 "2005-06-30T19:09:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Open-mouthed kisses were a no-no under the Hayes Code. 😕 Why would you want to kiss someone who has her mouth open? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/25 "2005-06-30T19:23:39Z")
> [@Birdmonster](#): > > Even if Clark Gable kissed you that, you’d think it was your grandma. Did your grandma’s moustache tickle? ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/26 "2005-06-30T19:50:38Z")
Terribly. Her beard was worse. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/27 "2005-06-30T20:22:10Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > 😕 Why would you want to kiss someone who has her mouth open? 😕 Well, I’ve never been able to get my tongue past pursed lips or clenched teeth. Perhaps you have had better luck. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/28 "2005-06-30T21:23:46Z")
If I’ve been kissing someone for quite a few minutes I might reach the point that doing the tongue thing sounds appealing rather than revolting, but it’s not how I’d start out. I think I just don’t like mouths anywhere near as much as lots of other folks do. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/29 "2005-06-30T21:43:17Z")
Back to the OP: Apparently the Hayes Code ended in '68, opening the door for the dreaded French Kiss. Any movie buffs going to claim the first instance? ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/30 "2005-06-30T21:53:01Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > If I’ve been kissing someone for quite a few minutes I might reach the point that doing the tongue thing sounds appealing rather than revolting, but it’s not how I’d start out. Naah, it usually takes me a couple of minutes to get into the tongue thing, and that’s with the guy I am passionately in love with. I’m just not really into tongues much, I guess. For non-tongue kisses my lips are generally fairly relaxed, not all pursed up like in the movies. Don’t soft lips feel better than tense pursed-up ones? It’s not like I either go old-movie-pursed-up-lips or tongues all over the place, there is some middle ground. Quite a bit of it, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/31 "2005-07-01T01:27:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > They were. They changed to color when the world did, back in the 30s. I didn’t think there was color until Ted Turner came along. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/32 "2005-07-01T09:59:55Z")
What’s always gotten to me is that some of these “old” kissing scenes look more like wrestling matches. The man grabs the woman from behind the head and then they start rubbing faces against each other. It looks almost violent. Their faces are pressed so close against each other it looks like it’s not lips touching, but the whole lower part of their face. It’s kind of hard to explain–do you understand what I’m talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/33 "2005-07-01T12:15:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Well, I’ve never been able to get my tongue past pursed lips or clenched teeth. Perhaps you have had better luck. 😃 There’s another way to kiss? Prying clenched teeth apart was the first thing I had to learn … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/34 "2005-07-01T14:50:39Z")
> [@auRa](#): > > What’s always gotten to me is that some of these “old” kissing scenes look more like wrestling matches. The man grabs the woman from behind the head and then they start rubbing faces against each other. It looks almost violent. Their faces are pressed so close against each other it looks like it’s not lips touching, but the whole lower part of their face. It’s kind of hard to explain–do you understand what I’m talking about? Completely. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/35 "2005-07-01T15:51:42Z")
That’s a great observation, about the violent kissing. Do you suppose that since tongues weren’t allowed, and kisses were limited to 3 seconds, they figured the face rubbing would convey passion? Not very imaginative. I think one of the hottest kissing scenes in an old movie is in It’s A Wonderful Life, when Donna Reed is on the phone and Jimmy Stewart is standing next to her, and they’re sorta cheek to cheek and breathing hard. If you make the build-up sexy enough, you don’t need a spectacular kiss. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/36 "2005-07-01T17:45:09Z")
> [@Birdmonster](#): > > Back to the OP: Apparently the Hayes Code ended in '68, opening the door for the dreaded French Kiss. Any movie buffs going to claim the first instance? According to Patrick Robertson, author of the _Guiness Book of the Movies_, the first French kissing in a Hollywood movie was between Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood in \*Splendor in the Grass \* (1961). ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/37 "2005-07-02T01:27:32Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > They were. They changed to color when the world did, back in the 30s. Then why are there still black and white photos? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/38 "2005-07-02T01:39:23Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Then why are there still black and white photos? Because they’re color pictures of the world when it was black and white! Obviously! [hijack] My ex-boss’s young son actually believed that the world had turned from b&w to color at some time in the past.[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/39 "2005-07-02T02:38:45Z")
“The world is a complicated place. Whenever it seems that way, I take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner.” Possibly my favorite Calvin & Hobbes. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540/40 "2005-07-04T09:21:52Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > “Excessive and lustful kissing, lustful embraces, suggestive postures and gestures, are not to be shown.” From the [Hays Code](http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html) of 1930. > > That doesn’t explain It Happened One Night, made in 1934, and (IMHO) pretty hot, what with Claudette Colbert showing leg to hitch a ride, and then hanging around a motel room in her slip. The Production Code of 1930 lacked an effective enforcement mechanism until 1934, shortly after _It Happened One Night_ was released. Which is why the term “pre-Code” Hollywood really means “pre-Code enforcement.” Various provisions of the Production Code were incrementally dropped from the late 1940s onward, until the Motion Picture Association of American ended the Production Code entirely in [1968](http://www.filmratings.com/about/content.htm), and foreseeing a state and federal backlash, adopted the voluntary letter rating system (G, M, R, X). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smooching-in-old-flicks-explain/310540.md?page=3)