Leatherneck (1946) - Hollywood Clinch
Details
- magazine article: Hollywood Clinch
- author(s): Karl Schuon
- journal: Leatherneck (01/Dec/1946)
- issue: volume 29, issue 12, page 71
- journal ISSN: 0023-981X
- publisher: Marine Corps Association
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, New York City, New York, Notorious (1946), Production Code Administration
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Extract
THE Hollywood scene, these days, is replete with the usual abundance of renovated ideas. Plots run the gamut, from psychological dramas, filled with suspense, to domestic comedies, overshadowed by tragic family budgets. Down through the years the fundamental principles of melodrama have remained the same: the ingenue has been chaste and chased by the villain and the economic wolf is always at the door. The pattern is still the same, but the approach is different.
In the era of "Murder In The Red Barn," "Streets of New York" and "The Perils of Pauline," the suave, diabolical heavy tied his pale, frail victim to the railroad tracks or lashed her to the log rack in a sawmill. Today he beats her with his brains. Stalking through the picture with a deliberate, threatening gait, he glares at the leading lady through misty, indifferent eyes and suggests insanity. The cruel landowner, with callouses on his heart, no longer waves the overdue mortgage under the invalid mother's nose, but bills from the grocer and high rents still make life unhappy for young couples in love and debt.
But in all of this potpourri of rehash, one little item has endured. Adhering closely to its original form, the Hollywood clinch has become a sacred tradition, as integral a part of a movie as a strip tease is in burlesque.
Varied are the categories into which these embraces may fall, but despite preliminary procedures, by which they may be distinguished, all of them reach an osculatory conclusion and are intended to convey the same meaning. This undoubtedly accounts for their longevity, and the assurance that they will remain unchanged.
Scheming directors have, of course, given a great deal of consideration to the matter and, in their own individual ways, have made an effort to elevate the technique, thereby keeping apace with other advancements made in the industry. From a technical standpoint they have been very successful, for in spite of the fact that an actor and actress may put their hearts and souls into a movie kiss, if the camera angles and lighting aren't carefully plotted, the most ardent kiss won't be convincing on the screen.
Credit for the innuendos, found in the build‑up of the more subtle clinches, must be attributed to the ingenuity of the director. Alfred Hitchcock, master of the psycho‑drama, has a thorough understanding of moods and their effect on human behavior, and he uses it to advantage in guiding his players in the new RKO picture, "Notorious." One love scene between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman begins with a caressing hand to the cheek and develops into the longest cinema kiss on record.
For those unfamiliar with the Articles of Censorship, there is, among other rules, a time limit on movie kisses. Hitchcock found a way to evade the regulation. After a series of cute little petting tricks and other romantically human passes at each other the scene was climaxed with Miss Bergman out for the long count in Grant's arms while the cameras rolled. This slightly illegal extension was accomplished by keeping the camera on the two lovers for the time prescribed by the movie code, then moving the lens to pick up the reflection of the kiss in a pool of water, and again as it was reflected in a row of wine bottles.
