The Kiss Before the Mirror

This racy pre code courtroom drama is not very good,but it is well acted by a good cast. Frank Morgan plays a Viennese lawyer who defends his friend, Paul Lukas, who has murdered his wife played by an absolutely beautiful, Gloria Stuart(who has a brief,surprising nude scene-we see her back as she strips).Morgan finds himself suspecting his own wife, played by Nancy Carroll,of infidelity. The film is wonderfully photographed and does a good job showing us the life of these wealthy Austrians.The boyfriend,played by an early Walter Pidgeon,is shown in the opening scene in a magnificent home which is sumptuously decorated.The visual style as in many Whale movies is striking.Unfortunately,the original play that this is based on,seems unbelievable and rather florid, although the infidelity elements are not that dissimilar from Kubricks,Eyes Wide Shut, also based on a Viennese original.

In The Kiss Before the Mirror, both male leads are given the opportunity to play against type. Paul Lukas plays a murderer, and Frank Morgan plays a responsible lawyer who gets influenced by Paul's power of suggestion and starts to have very dark thoughts. This movie might not stand the test of time in many ways, but if you like the cast, you might want to rent it.

Paul starts off married to Gloria Stuart, but when he catches her with her lover, a very young Walter Pidgeon, he kills her. He tells his best friend and lawyer Frank that he started to suspect Gloria was being unfaithful when she dolled up in front of the mirror and he could tell it wasn't for him. As he describes his motives to Frank and the emotional torture he felt before the murder, Frank starts to notice similar behaviors in his own happy marriage to Nancy Carroll. . .

Yes, the subject matter and directing style is a bit dated in this film. Modern audiences might not find it appealing to watch a movie about a man killing his wife and justifying it; a gender-reversal would perhaps be more tempting. However, it is fun sometimes to curl up on a rainy afternoon and watch a very old movie to see how people acted back them and how films were made. Frank Morgan wasn't always the Wizard of Oz, and Gloria Stuart wasn't always the old lady who survived the Titanic. If you like this type of courtroom thriller, check out Night Court for a plot with three times as many twists and turns.

Ah yes, the old "he killed her because he loved her" defense. A wife cheats on her husband and he has a "right to avenge his honor," a literal quote from the protagonist. The attitude this film takes (or the mirror it holds up to 1933, if you will) is unfortunate, because it mars an interesting premise, some fine performances, and skilled directing. Despite the misogyny, I thought this small pre-Code film which flies by in 69 minutes was worth watching.

To open things, a society woman cheating on her husband is followed by him and murdered. Despite her small part, Gloria Stuart at 23, 64 years before Titanic, is enchanting. There's something romantic and dreamy about her scene with Walter Pidgeon, even though she's committing adultery, which is a distinctly pre-Code impression. Her husband admits to the crime and is then represented by a sharp lawyer (Frank Morgan) and his crack team (Jean Dixon and Charley Grapewin).

Where the film gets interesting is when the lawyer's wife (Nancy Carroll) begins acting in ways that eerily resemble those of the woman who was killed - that is, as she's getting dressed up, it seems as if she's going out to meet a lover, not her friends. His client described his wife at her dressing room table in front of the mirror, humming a tango, getting upset with his affections because it would muss her up, and so it happens with the lawyer, him knowing by her expression in a shocking moment that she reviles him. The transformation Carroll affects is very well done, as her pretty face goes from tenderness to anger brilliantly, and I liked the use of many mirrors in the scene as well. Even the two pairs of lovers (Stuart/Pidgeon and Carroll/Donald Cook) resemble one another, mirror images if you will.

The angst of the two men when they confer as lawyer and client, but also as two cuckolds, is amplified by the light and shadows that director James Whale gives us, which makes the film seem like a forerunner of film noir. The case takes on very dark tones as he pledges to get his client off even if he has to lie to do so, and then to kill his own wife.

While the setup is strong, it falters in how it plays out. As I mention above, there's a theme of women cheating on their husbands and then deserving to die, which is unpleasant. Even in its minor characters we see this. Early on, a prisoner looking out of a strange subterranean cell has no qualms over having killed his wife, and hopes she's now in hell. Later, when a man showing up to the court for his own case involving his longtime sweetheart's lawsuit involving "breach of promise" is told by the bailiff that this case involves murder, he says it's a "very good idea." Women are also shown to be crowding the courtroom and amorously clamoring to see the murderer. Women, ya gotta watch 'em and keep 'em in line, right?

It's in Morgan's character and his impassioned defense of the murderer that we see it most of all, however. He talks about a "personal law," an "unwritten law" of vengeance a betrayed husband may mete out, and then challenges the jury:

"Most of you, perhaps all of you, believe you know at this moment where your wife or husband is, for faith is the greatest element in love. And exclusiveness of possession is all that makes marriage worthwhile. Therefore, ask yourself, what you would do if both of these were destroyed, and if upon leaving here you found the one you loved and trusted disrobing at the bedside of a lover. What would you do?"

There are great performances here - Morgan in his vulnerable, hurt moments as well as his courtroom speech (much as I disliked its contents), and Carroll's as well, showing fear and guilt. Her character itself needed more depth, and the way she has to perform it has to match the way the film ends, but she did very well with the role she had. I just wish this thing had gone some other route, maybe something supernatural based on the similarities of the infidelity and all those mirrors, but unfortunately it slips into becoming a morality tale, something that should be apparent from the title of its 1938 remake, "Wives Under Suspicion."

This film begins with a husband following his wife to a rendezvous with her lover. There, he savagely kills her with a revolver--shooting her repeatedly as she fell to the ground. The husband, Paul Lukas, immediately phones the police to turn himself in for murder. However, his lawyer (Frank Morgan) works hard for his acquittal or a lenient sentence, since the husband was driven to this by his wife's behavior. Morgan's insistence of Lukas' innocence is important, since Morgan himself realizes his wife is also committing adultery and proving Lukas' innocence is, in a way, vindication for Morgan if he, too, decides to kill his wife.

As for Morgan, his performance is quite atypical. Instead of the usual nice guy or comical figure, here he plays a highly emotional and almost unhinged man. He's a bit over the top in his acting, but his melodramatic behavior is fun to watch.

The film was directed by James Whale--the same man who directed Boris Karloff and Colin Clive in the first two of Universal's Frankenstein movies. Like these films, THE KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR is notable for having many quiet moments where there is no incidental music. This is important because it adds to the tension and drama--producing a stark but intense film. Additionally, the film manages to do a lot in only a little over an hour--a sign of excellent direction. The only negative is that the final scene with Morgan's wife is a bit too melodramatic--too shrill to be realistic.

Overall, rather entertaining and different.

This is not a horror movie. James Whale is best known for those. (His 1936 "Showboat," on the other hand is my absolute favorite movie musical, bar none.) This one is a brief but insightful character study.

Frank Morgan plays a famous lawyer engrossed in a murder case. He finds himself identifying with the jealous husband of a beautiful woman.

He identifies a little too strongly. He begins to see in his own wife the behavior of his client's wife.

Morgan's wife is played by one of the most charming of early movie actresses: Nancy Carroll. I've seen her primarily in light comedy, where she is absolutely charming. She has a quirkiness that resembles that of Janet Gaynor. And she physically resembles the ultra-sexy Clara Bow.

Her career was short, apparently by her own choice. This is one of her best roles. And, though it's atypical and little known, it's a very fine example of James Whale's masterful touch.