thescriptlab's 10 Great Movie Kisses

Based on the novel of the same name by James Jones,From Here to Eternity tells the story of the lives of military personnel and civilians just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The film won several Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Fred Zinnemann), and Best Adapted Screenplay. However, its real claim to fame is the film's iconic "beach kissing scene". It is a scene that has been copied and parodied more than any other kissing scene. The kiss takes place between Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster) and his Army Captain's wife, Karen Holmes (Deborah Kerr). Their forbidden love comes to fruition on Halona Cove in Hawaii. It is a warm summer night on the deserted beach. The couple lies at the foot of the ocean where they embrace and kiss, letting the waves churn over them. Karen is so exulted by the experience that afterwards she collapses on a nearby blanket. At first, the kiss was filmed with the actors standing up. It was actually Burt Lancaster who had the idea to shoot it horizontally, giving it intensity and passion. In fact, the scene was so intense that, upon its release, the MPAA banned the image of Karen and Milton kissing among the waves. Their reason? It was just too erotic. In fact, many prints had shortened versions of the scene because projectionists cut out the frames to keep as souvenirs. Now that is a good kiss.

It is the most famous and tumultuous love stories on film. Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) and Scarlett O'hara (Vivien Leigh) have a passionate, burning kind of love. Appropriately, their kiss takes place during a fire in Atlanta. With the fiery, red sky as their background, Rhett takes Scarlett in his arms. Scarlett tries to reject him, but Rhett continues saying, "Here's a soldier of the South who loves you, Scarlett, wants to feel your arms around him, wants to carry the memory of your kisses into battle with him." Finally he declares, "Scarlett, kiss me. Kiss me, once." The couple kisses. When they finish their embrace, Scarlett promptly slaps Rhett in the face. She yells that he is "not a gentleman". The kiss is the epitome of Rhett and Scarlett's relationship: complex, fiery, and at times, violent.

Unlike the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs where we see the kiss of life, The Godfather II shows us the kiss of death. It's a New Year's Eve celebration in Cuba. Party-goers celebrate ringing in New Year of 1959. Among the attendees is the Godfather of the Corleone family, Michael (Al Pacino). Having figured out that his brother Fredo (John Cavale) has betrayed the family, Michael works his way towards his sibling. At the stroke of midnight, Michael grabs Fredo's face, whispering "I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart." Michael plants a kiss on each cheek, and one on the lips. It is a gut-wrenching moment. Fredo, Michael, as well as the audience, realizes that is it the kiss of death - there will be a hit out on Fredo. While not the traditional kissing scene, The Godfather II has one of the most emotion provoking scenes of all time.

Light, fun, and playful, Lady and the Tramp lays claim to one of the most famous kisses of all time. Lady, a Cocker-Spaniel, enjoys a date night with the mangy Tramp. The scene is romantic- the two pups feast on spaghetti and meatballs. The moonlight glows in the night and the song "Bella Notte" plays in the background. While they are chowing down, they both eat the same noodle: he on one side, she on the other. Soon, they meet in the middle for a kiss. Lady blushes and looks away. Tramp nudges a meatball towards her as a sign of affection and true love is born. While they may be dogs, they certainly have romance down pat, giving us one of the cutest kissing scenes to date.

Kissing is about to get serious. During its time, Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious boasted the longest kiss on film. Notorious tells the story of three people whose lives become intertwined during an espionage operation. Delvin (Cary Grant) is a no-nonsense American agent. Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is the daughter of a Nazi spy. The two fall in love, and kiss in Alicia's apartment. The kiss, known commonly as "the marathon kiss" lasted almost three minutes. Due to censorship at the time, kisses were only allowed to last three seconds. Hitchcock circumvented this production code by having the actors disengage every three seconds for some nuzzling. The film is considered one of Hitchcock's greatest works, and the kissing scene has gone down in history as one of the most controversial, but passionate kisses of all time.

Rain and trench coats. It's the classic romantic kiss scene, and it happens at the end of Breakfast at Tiffany's. In a fit, Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) jumps in a taxi to go to Brazil to “find a rich husband”. She is accompanied by her cat and Paul Varjak (George Peppard), her neighbor, friend, and sometimes boyfriend. After he expresses his love for her, she demands that the taxi pulls over. She tosses her cat into an alleyway, telling it to "beat it.” Paul tells her off, saying that she’s a coward, scared of falling in love. He declares, "You call yourself a free spirit, a 'wild thing,' and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well, baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself." He tosses the engagement ring to her that he has been carrying around for months and exits the cab. Holly, realizing he is right, jumps out of the taxi. She frantically finds her cat and tracks down Paul. In the last moment of the film, she kisses Paul in the pouring rain, the cat squished in between them as "Moon River" starts to play. Sigh.

It's the ultimate story of self-sacrifice and and love. In one of the best kissing scenes of all time, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) goes to her former lover, Rick (Humphrey Bogart) for help. They meet in Rick's dark apartment where Ilsa asks Rick for exit visas and letters of transit so that she and her expatriate husband can escape the Nazis by fleeing to American. She accuses Rick of being a "coward and a weakling", so scorned by their love that he is willing to let the world suffer the loss of a resistance leader. She is so desperate that she pulls a gun on Rick, demanding the papers. He still refuses, telling her to "Go ahead and shoot. You'll be doing me a favor.” In that moment, Ilsa realizes how much Rick loves her. She falls into his arms, and confesses, "The day you left Paris, if you knew what I went through. If you knew how much I loved you, how much I still love you." They kiss. Passionately and authentically, a kiss that’s truly classic.

Pandora's Box is a silent German melodrama. Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, the film tells the story of Lulu (Louise Brooks). Lulu is a selfish and thoughtless 18-year-old girl. Though initially she goes along in life unappreciated, she becomes an actress and a star. However, Lulu ruins her own life and the lives of those around her because of her unbridled sexuality and uninhibited nature. In the final scene of the film, Lulu has been reduced to using prostitution to get money. She picks up a man... and unbeknown to her, the man is Jack the Ripper. Jack confesses that he has no money, but Lulu invites him up to a room because she likes him. Touched by her generosity, Jack casts his knife away. However, as Lulu is enjoying her last kiss, Jack can't control himself. He stabs Lulu, and she dies in his arms. Ironic and haunting, the scene has captivated audiences for generations.

In the classic fairytale film, the Grandfather (Peter Falk) reads the story of the film to the Grandson (Fred Savage). It’s a story of giants, swordplay, princesses, adventure, and... kissing. The grandson exclaims, "Is this a kissing book?" Well, it turns out it is indeed. The famous kiss happens at the very end of the film. Buttercup (Robin Wright), Westley (Carey Elwes), Inigo (Mandy Pantinkin), and Fezzik (Andre the Giant) have all successfully finished their battles. Fezzik conveniently finds four horses so that the gang can ride away into the sunset. Before the last line of the book, the Grandfather closes it because it is about kissing again. However, the Grandson exclaims that he doesn't mind so much anymore. So, the grandfather concludes the story with a kiss between Westley and Buttercup. And it's quite a kiss: "Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind. The End." It's a perfect fairytale ending for one of the best fairytale films of all time.

It's the kiss that set the precedent for all other animated film kisses. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs tells the story of the beautiful princess, Snow White (voiced by Adriana Caselotti). Her stepmother, The Queen (voiced by Lucille La Verne), is bitter and jealous because of Snow White's exquisite beauty. In the film, The Queen tricks Snow White into eating a poisonous apple. Once the fair princess takes a bite, she is sent into a death- like sleep. Her beloved dwarfs, believing she is dead for good, adorn her with flowers and place her in a glass casket. Sound romantic yet? Well, time passes as the dwarfs keep a vigil to watch over the princess. Soon, The Prince, who had fallen in love with Snow White earlier, hears the news of her demise and visits her coffin. He is so taken with her beauty that he kisses her right then and there. Suddenly, Snow White awakens from the dead. True Love's kiss has broken The Queen's spell. It is one of the most famous kisses on film, and rightfully so... it's not just any kiss that has the power of resurrection.