''The Kiss of Fire'' (French: ''Naples au baiser de feu'') is a 1937 French
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
film directed by
Augusto Genina and starring
Tino Rossi
Constantin "Tino" Rossi (29 April 1907 – 26 September 1983) was a French singer and film actor of Corsican origin.
Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, Rossi was gifted with a voice well suited for opera. He became a tenor in the French cabaret style. ...
,
Michel Simon
Michel Simon (; 9 April 1895 – 30 May 1975) was a Swiss-French actor. He appeared in many notable French films, including ''La Chienne'' (1931), ''Boudu Saved from Drowning'' (1932), ''L'Atalante'' (1934), ''Port of Shadows'' (1938), '' The He ...
,
Mireille Balin
Mireille Césarine Balin (born Blanche Mireille Césarine Balin; 20 July 1909, in Monte Carlo – 9 November 1968 in Paris)"Balin, Mireille (1911–1968)." ''Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages'', edited by Anne Commire ...
and
Viviane Romance
Viviane Romance (born Pauline Ronacher Ortmanns; 4 July 1912 – 25 September 1991) was a French actress.
Viviane Romance was born in Roubaix, France. She began her career as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and was elected Miss Paris of 193 ...
.
[Plastino & Sciorra p.128] The film is based on the 1924 novel ''Naples au baiser de feu'' by
Auguste Bailly. It had previously been made as a 1925 silent film and was later adapted again for a remake ''
Napoli terra d'amore'' in 1954.
It was primarily shot at the
Saint-Laurent-du-Var Studios
The Saint-Laurent-du-Var Studios were film studios located in Saint-Laurent-du-Var on the French Riviera, in the suburbs of Nice. They were one of two studios in the city along with the nearby Victorine Studio complex.
Constructed in 1920 the st ...
in
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
with some
location shooting
Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior.
The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for exam ...
in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. The film's sets were designed by the
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
Guy de Gastyne
Guy de Gastyne (1888–1972) was a French art director. He was the brother of the film director Marco de Gastyne.Andrew p.184
Selected filmography
* '' Little Lise'' (1930)
* ''Orange Blossom'' (1932)
* '' Buridan's Donkey'' (1932)
* ''Abduct M ...
.
Synopsis
Mario Esposito a singer who performs in a
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
restaurant
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
is in love with his owner's niece Assunta and wants to marry her. However through his friend Michel he encounters another woman, Lolita, who lures him away from his true love. Eventually he is able to see the mistake he is making.
Cast
*
Tino Rossi
Constantin "Tino" Rossi (29 April 1907 – 26 September 1983) was a French singer and film actor of Corsican origin.
Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, Rossi was gifted with a voice well suited for opera. He became a tenor in the French cabaret style. ...
as Mario Esposito
*
Michel Simon
Michel Simon (; 9 April 1895 – 30 May 1975) was a Swiss-French actor. He appeared in many notable French films, including ''La Chienne'' (1931), ''Boudu Saved from Drowning'' (1932), ''L'Atalante'' (1934), ''Port of Shadows'' (1938), '' The He ...
as Michel
*
Mireille Balin
Mireille Césarine Balin (born Blanche Mireille Césarine Balin; 20 July 1909, in Monte Carlo – 9 November 1968 in Paris)"Balin, Mireille (1911–1968)." ''Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages'', edited by Anne Commire ...
as Assunta
*
Marcel Dalio as Le photographe
*
Viviane Romance
Viviane Romance (born Pauline Ronacher Ortmanns; 4 July 1912 – 25 September 1991) was a French actress.
Viviane Romance was born in Roubaix, France. She began her career as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and was elected Miss Paris of 193 ...
as Lolita
*
Leda Ginelly
Leda may refer to:
Mythology
* Leda (mythology), queen of Sparta and mother of Helen of Troy in Greek mythology
Places
* Leda, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia
* Leda makeshift settlement, Bangladesh, a refugee camp ...
as Sylvia
*
Jane Loury
Jeanne Loury or Jane Loury (1876–1951) was a French stage and film actress.Goble p.199
Selected filmography
* '' My Aunt from Honfleur'' (1923)
* '' House in the Sun'' (1929)
* ''All That's Not Worth Love'' (1931)
* '' A Son from America'' (1 ...
as Tante Teresa
*
Joe Alex
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
as Le soutier
*
Marcel Bauçay
Marcel may refer to:
People
* Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel
* Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder
* Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian ...
as l'écailler
*
Lucien Callamand
Lucien Callamand born Lucien Marie Pascal Eugène Callamand (April 1, 1888, in Marseille – December 3, 1968, in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes) was one of the earliest French film actors whose career spanned six decades of French cinema. Between 1909 ...
as Le dîneur
*
Jean-François Martial
Jean-François Martial (12 September 1891 – 18 October 1977) was a Belgian actor who appeared in mostly French films beginning in the silent film era of the early 1910s until his retirement in the early 1960s.
Born Martial Joseph Ghislain Fos ...
as L'administrateur
*
Georges Térof Georges may refer to:
Places
* Georges River, New South Wales, Australia
* Georges Quay (Dublin)
*Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Other uses
*Georges (name)
* ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas
* "Georges" (song), a 19 ...
as Le vendeur
References
Bibliography
* Goffredo Plastino & Joseph Sciorra. ''Neapolitan Postcards: The Canzone Napoletana as Transnational Subject''. Scarecrow Press, 2016.
External links
*
1937 films
1930s French-language films
Films directed by Augusto Genina
1937 comedy films
French comedy films
French black-and-white films
Films set in Naples
Remakes of French films
Films based on French novels
1930s French films
{{1930s-France-film-stub