Um Beijo no Escuro

I love it when snobbish Phillips (Niven) suddenly surveys the lovely Polly (Wyman) as she stands across from him in bare-legged short-shorts. Up to now the concert pianist has enclosed himself in a haughty world of the upper-class, too elevated to bother with either concerns of the flesh or those of everyday commoners. But now, oh my gosh, is that the sudden knock-knock of fleshy hormones on his closed door. Happily for me, his aren't the only male hormones the movie's activating.

Catch how snobbish Phillips is when he wants to evict the poor tenants from his newly acquired fancy hotel. Seems they don't measure up to his elite standards. But what does he care that neither kids nor adults have a place to go. Thus, enlarging his withered sense of humanity becomes a key plot thread amid a rather clogged screenplay. And guess who helps him.

Anyhow, the flick's much better at romance than comedy, the latter being clumsily overdone at best, Crawford shouting up an annoying storm, for one. Nonetheless, it's a good thing ace performers Wyman and Niven are on hand to salvage things, especially Wyman just coming off her Oscar winning deaf-mute in Johnny Belinda (1948). Together, the twosome make the gradual humanizing of the haughty Phillips believable, despite the contrived scheming going on behind their backs. That last part, I think, needed a rewrite.

All in all, it's a 90-minutes mainly for fans, or maybe even non-fans, of the two leads. Too bad Wyman and future President Reagan divorced in '49. She would have made a heckuva First Lady in short-shorts, and I surely would've voted Republican.

Comedy is all about timing, of course, and Delmer Daves, the director has horrible timing and no feel for comedy. Scene after scene falls flat, some of which at least had the potential to be funny. He elicits an embarrassing performance from Broderick Crawford as an ill-tempered tenant who sleeps during the day, and yells at everyone with such murderous violence you fear he's going to go on a killing spree, when it's obviously a subplot that's supposed to be played for yuks. Niven, as the pampered pianist, and Wyman, as a down-to-earth print model, are likable as always (and Wyman displays fantastic legs wearing white shorts in one scene where Niven literally can't take his eyes off her) but they can only do so much with the middling material. Victor Moore supplies the film's only laughs as the curious little man who runs the apartment building, Willoughby.

Very familiar "Local Hero" plot line which I'm usually a sucker for but it requires a filmmaker with a much lighter touch.

In A Kiss In The Dark David Niven is cast as a concert pianist whose business manager Joseph Buloff handles his many diversified investments which among other things a brownstone apartment building called The Cleopatra Arms. Acting as superintendent of the place and also one of the tenants is Victor Moore. When Moore comes calling one day Niven finds out about his ownership and gets to meet some of the many tenants there including perky model Jane Wyman.

It isn't too long before Niven is involved throughly with the lives and fortunes of all the tenants there. Among others are Wyman's boyfriend Wayne Morris and an irascible Broderick Crawford who has a problem getting to sleep.

We're never told what his job is, but Crawford works a graveyard shift job and comes home and wants a little shut eye. The comedy around him centers on his irascibility due to sleep deprivation. I'm not sure how funny that is, I had sympathy for the guy. Nevertheless all the other tenants want him out and Niven finds a way to oblige.

With Victor Herbert's melody weaving in an out of the soundtrack and serving as title and theme for the film, A Kiss In The Dark is a slight but amusing comedy that in the hands of a director better suited for comedy might have worked better. Certainly David Niven has gotten worse material and managed to make it work.

A Kiss In The Dark was the farewell film of Maria Ouspenskaya who plays Niven's original piano teacher. Maria whose career went back to the Russian Art Theater was killed in a house fire the same year A Kiss In The Dark came out.

One hopes that David Niven held on to the Cleopatra Arms. What it would be worth today is incalculable. A lot more than the film.

This isn't a good movie to watch if you are the type that is annoyed by plot holes or silly and contrived situations. The basic story is pretty hard to believe, but in spite of this, the film is a lot of fun to watch due to the wonderful acting of this ensemble cast. In other words, it's a great example of the sum total of the film being better than the individual parts. Taking JUST the plot, the film is pretty dumb and contrived. After all, David Niven plays a neurotic and persnickety concert pianist who has become an absentee landlord of a high-rise apartment complex. Okay,....but when he then agrees to leave his posh home and visit the complex and then gets pulled into the giant family-like atmosphere that exists there, the film throws believability out the window. BUT, I strongly advise you not to give up on the film. Sure, it's contrived but the bit characters and leading characters' parts are written and performed so well, you will likely quickly forget about how silly the film is and get sucked into the comedy-romance of the film.

David Niven is just wonderful as the pianist who ultimately falls for sweet and perky Jane Wyman. Both are excellent and the chemistry actually works--even though common sense might have you think "David Niven AND Jane Wyman,....NO WAY,...it'll never happen!".

As for the rest of the cast, they are a motley group of bit characters and supporting actors that give the film a nice, sweet homey atmosphere. In particular, Victor Moore as the sweet but daffy 'Mr. Willoughby' was a delight--so cute and nice--you just can't help but like him.

Special mention should also be given to the director, Delmer Daves. Considering how stupid the plot was, he got the absolute most out of the material and the cast.

So, my recommendation is that despite the score of 6 (it just didn't merit more due to the plot), it is well worth seeing--especially if you love old films and are a softy at heart. Enjoy.

David Niven, a concert pianist, has just acquired a new property, that of a hotel building called Cleopatra Arms. I forget the details of how or why, but the place turns out to be anything but normal. He goes to see the place, after getting a visit from the hotel manager Victor Moore about getting repairs fixed for the building inspector. David winds up inspecting Jane Wyman, a tenant in her short shorts, and they instantly hit it off, despite the fact she already has a boyfriend, played by Wayne Morris. Broderick Crawford is a tenant who works by night, so he must sleep by day, and is very obnoxious about everyone making too much noise. There is a very funny bit about David practicing his piano playing next door to Crawford's room in an attempt to get the brute to move. In fact, I enjoyed the whole film, as it was very lighthearted and fun, with David being put in the position of Boy Scout leader, when he takes a group of boys on a hike and David, of course, knows nothing about such outdoor techniques of building a lean-to shelter. A sweet and satisfying little winner this is with Jane and David and a kiss in the dark....