Too Many Kisses
About Too Many Kisses
Richard Gaylord Jr. keeps collecting sweethearts, and his father is tired of paying to get him out of them. He ships the son to the Basque country in France, on the theory that the women there will only accept their own men. Yvonne Hurja fastens on Richard as a way out of Julio, the local guardsman who will not leave her alone. Richard and Julio become rivals.
Cast & crew
More about Too Many Kisses
Paul Sloane directed Gerald Duffy’s scenario from John Monk Saunders’s 1923 Cosmopolitan story “A Maker of Gestures.” Jesse L. Lasky and Adolph Zukor produced for Famous Players–Lasky. Paramount released it on 1 March 1925. Hal Rosson photographed. Six reels, 5,759 feet, about 60 minutes. Richard Dix is Gaylord Jr., Frances Howard is Yvonne, William Powell is Julio, Frank Currier is the father.
Themes
Making
Powell, not yet a thin-man lead, is the guardsman blocking Dix. Harpo’s bit is a silent-era speaking part, written on title cards, in the only film of his that does not include his brothers.
Look
Hal Rosson shot the six reels, including the village rivalry between Gaylord and Julio.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles. Bill Marx later composed a score for the restored print.
Preservation
Considered lost for years. A print found in the early 1970s was restored by the Film Preservation Society. That version reached TCM on 29 November 2020 and Blu-ray the next day.
Notes
- Harpo Marx plays “The Village Peter Pan.” It is his earliest surviving film, the only one without his brothers, and the only time his character has dialogue lines, written as intertitles.
- Albert Tavernier is Manuel Hurja. Joseph Burke is Mr. Simmons. Alyce Mills plays a flapper.
- Arthur Ludwig is Miguel and Paul Panzer is Pedro.
- The picture was treated as lost until a print turned up in the early 1970s. The Film Preservation Society restored it.
- Turner Classic Movies first showed that restoration on 29 November 2020. A Blu-ray followed the next day. Harpo’s son Bill Marx wrote and recorded a score for it.
Scenes
- Gaylord Sr. decides he will not pay for another of his son’s entanglements.
- Yvonne treats the American as an exit from Julio.
- Harpo appears as the village Peter Pan, with lines on title cards.
Influenced by
- A Maker of Gestures (John Monk Saunders, 1923)
Also available
- Blu-ray (Film Preservation Society restoration, 2020)
- Wikimedia Commons (Too Many Kisses (1925) by Paul Sloane.webm)
