There's nothing quite like a warm smooch session to bring some real sizzle to the screen.
"The Kissing Booth" fans have been treated to an absolute abundance of kisses throughout
the film series, with most of the characters puckering up at some point or another, thanks
in no small part to the hit carnival booth that started it all.
But movies haven't always been able to bring such sultry, kissing scenes into the picture.
In fact, there used to be some pretty hard and fast rules about exactly how a screen
smooch could unfold, and it took decades for things to change.
So, to celebrate the vibrant variety of on-screen kisses in "The Kissing Booth," here's a look
back at the history of movie kisses.
The very first movie kiss arrived all the way back in 1896 in a short film called "The
May Irwin Kiss."
The seconds-long footage was filmed in the studio of kinetoscope inventor Thomas Edison
and featured actors May Irwin and John Rice sharing a short smooch.
As moviemaking technology improved, so did the length of films.
Soon, movies lasted much longer than a matter of seconds, and the length and intensity of
screen kisses did as well.
In the roaring '20s, there were a number of films that brought some real heat to their
kissing scenes and made big stars out of those actors who could truly steam up the screen.
Looking back, you might be surprised to see how impassioned some of the scenes from films
of the era really were.
Consider the seduction scene in 1922's "Blood and Sand" and the captivating will-they-or-won't-they
moment from 1928's "The Mysterious Lady."
There were also some major movie milestones to be achieved early on, like the first same-sex
kiss in 1927's "Wings."
So kissing scenes were getting pretty intense right from the start in Hollywood.
However, the onslaught of on-screen romance caused a huge backlash in the decade to follow.
In response to growing pressure and boycotts from certain religious and morality groups,
the Hays Code was implemented in 1930, though it took until about 1934 to really become
widespread.
Among other things, the Code explicitly forbade "excessive and lustful kissing" from being
shown on-screen.
With the threat of their pics being banned from theaters, filmmakers had to adapt to
this stiff production code, and movie kisses were only allowed to last a few seconds at
a time.
Some directors found clever ways to skirt the rules.
For instance, Alfred Hitchcock had actors Cary Grant and Ingmar Bergman play out their
nearly three-minute-long kissing scene in the 1946 film "Notorious" with playful interruptions
to adhere to the rule, and it actually made the kiss even more iconic as a result.
"This is a very strange love affair."
"Why?"
"Maybe the fact that you don't love me."
But for others, this restrictive set of rules meant movie kisses were briefer and more sanitized
than those in some of the earliest films of the industry.
Though many films from the '30s until the '60s were pretty closed-lip when it came to
movie kisses, there were still some very memorable kissing scenes to emerge from the era, including
in films like "Casablanca," "To Have and to Have Not," and "From Here to Eternity."
Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis enjoyed multiple lip-locks in 1959's "Some Like it Hot."
But things really started to heat up on-screen once the concept of free love began sweeping
the nation.
By the late '60s, the Hays Code was history, and films started to get much freer, with
movies like "The Graduate" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" breaking the mold about
what types of stories movies were meant to tell.
At the same time, kissing scenes became more extensive and provocative.
They even became some of the defining moments of blockbuster movies, like the "James Bond"
films and "The Thomas Crown Affair."
The '70s and '80s became a true heyday for romantic dramas.
These movies weren't only free to show extended kisses with heightened intensity, they were
also pressured to ramp up the importance of those exchanges.
Some of the movies with the most memorable screen kisses from the era included "Love
Story," "The Way We Were," "Grease," and "Sixteen Candles."
And we've also got to mention classics like "Dirty Dancing," "When Harry Met Sally" and
"The Princess Bride."
"Hold it, hold it.
What is this?
Are you trying to trick me?
Where's the sports?
Is this a kissing book?"
These are iconic moments, yet movies have still continued to raise the bar on what's
possible for kissing scenes.
From the 1990s onward, movies became even more bold and inclusive when it came to their
romantic narratives.
The success of '90s films like "Pretty Woman," "Ghost," "Poetic Justice," and "Waiting to
Exhale" assured variety and inclusion was the spice of life when it came to love stories.
In the years since, Hollywood has continued to broaden its own horizons when it comes
to screen kisses.
For example, the commercial and critical successes of films like "Brokeback Mountain," "Blue
Is the Warmest Color," and "Moonlight" -- each of which contain instantly iconic kissing
scenes -- marked some major breakthroughs for LGBTQ+ representation in romantic stories.
Nowadays, it seems that there are no limits to who can kiss who and for how long in films.
It might've taken decades for movies to get to the point where it's completely commonplace
for so many kinds of kisses to make it to screen, but in "The Kissing Booth" films,
the characters sure do have some fun trying to up the ante.
Thanks for watching.
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