The Censored Kisses Scene

Cinema Paradiso (1988, It./Fr.)
(aka Nuovo Cinema Paradiso)

The Kissing Montage

Introduction:

Cinema Paradiso (1988, It./Fr.) - awarded the Best Foreign Language Film by the Academy, contained the euphoric, nostalgic scene of middle-aged, silver-haired, world-famous Italian film director Salvatore Di Vita (Jacques Perrin as adult) returning to his peasant childhood, small-town Sicilian home of Giancaldo. He came back after 30 years to attend the funeral of his mentor/projectionist Alfredo (Philippe Noiret), whom he succeeded as the town's movie theatre projectionist after a devastating fire blinded him.

He revisited the condemned Cinema Paradiso theatre in the town square when it was destroyed to make way for a city parking lot. He was given a gift of a reel of film by Alfredo's widow. When he returned to Rome, he screened the reel, watching the long montage of romantic ("pornographic") amorous screen kisses ordered spliced, excised, and censored out of numerous films (i.e., His Girl Friday, The Gold Rush, The Outlaw, The Son of the Sheik, The Adventures of Robin Hood, etc.) by the village priest Father Adelfio (Leopoldo Trieste) when he was a boy.

He remembered, while peeking through a curtain in the theater, that Father Adelfio would ring a bell every time there was an image or scene that needed to be be censored and deleted - this time, he was watching and judging Verso La Vita (1936, Fr.). In the film, during one of the double feature screenings for the public, the audience members objected when there was an obvious splice (of a kissing scene) in La Terra Trema (1948, It.), and they voiced their disapproval. One patron commented: "In 20 years, I've never seen a kiss on the screen."

The following compilation presents (in order) and identifies, as fully as possible, the films in the romantic kissing montage -- 47 segments, of which 41 were kissing scenes, and a few other snipped shots (usually partial nudes).

Note: Director Giuseppe Tornatore's script described the scene thusly:

"In rapid sequence the passionate kisses between actors and actresses, names famous and names unknown in the history of movies. Greta Garbo, Gary Cooper, Alida Valli, Rudolph Valentino, Ingrid Bergman, Clark Gable, Anna Magnani, Humphrey Bogart, Marlene Dietrich, Amedeo Nazzari, Luisa Ferida, Vittorio De Sica, Rita Hayworth, Tyrone Power, Doris Durante, Massimo Girotti, Marta Abba, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Assia Noris..."

(P.S. Not all of these performers were included in the montage, or were clearly recognizable in the almost 50 snippets of film.)



The Censored Kisses Scene in
Cinema Paradiso (1988)


The Kissing Montage

(in order)
47 Segments (numbered)



1. Riso Amaro (1949, It.)
(aka Bitter Rice)
Vittorio Gassman and Silvana Mangano

2. His Girl Friday (1940)
Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell

3. The Outlaw (1943)
Jane Russell

4. Carmela (1942)
Doris Duranti

5. Carmela (1942)
Doris Duranti

6. Unknown

7. Riso Amaro (1949, It.)
(aka Bitter Rice)
Silvana Mangano

8. Ossessione (1943, It.)
Massimo Girotti and Clara Calamai

9. The Gold Rush (1925)
Charlie Chaplin and Georgia Hale

10. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Olivia De Havilland and Errol Flynn

11. Riso Amaro (1949, It.)
(aka Bitter Rice)
Raf Vallone and Silvana Mangano

12. Unknown
(maybe)
Room at the Top (1959)
Simone Signoret

13. The Son of the Sheik (1926)
Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Banky

14. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
James Stewart and Donna Reed

15. Unknown

16. L'Imperatore di Capri (1949, It.) (aka The Emperor of Capri)
Toto (as Antonio De Fazio) and Yvonne Sanson (as Sonia Bulgarov)

17. Bellissima (1952, It.)

Anna Magnani and Gastone Renzelli

18. La Terra Trema (1948, It.)
(aka The Earth Trembles)

19. Le Notti Bianche (1957, It.)
(aka White Nights)
Marcello Mastroianni and Maria Schell

20. La Cena Delle Beffe (1942, It.)
Amedeo Nazzari and Valentina Cortese

21. La Cena Delle Beffe (1942, It.) (aka The Jester's Banquet)
Clara Calamai

22. Les Bas-fonds (1936, Fr.)
(aka Underground, or The Lower Depths, or Verso La Vita)
Jean Gabin and Junie Astor ?

23. Unknown

24. L'Imperatore di Capri (1949, It.) (aka The Emperor of Capri)
Toto (as Antonio De Fazio) and Yvonne Sanson (as Sonia Bulgarov)

25. Unknown

26. Unknown

27. Unknown

28. A Farewell to Arms (1932)
Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes

29. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
James Stewart and Donna Reed

30. Senso (1954, It.)
Farley Granger and Alida Valli

31. Les Bas-fonds (1936, Fr.)
(aka Underground, or The Lower Depths, or Verso La Vita)
Jean Gabin and Junie Astor ?

32. Unknown

33. Il Cavaliere Misterioso (1948, It.) (aka The Mysterious Cavalier)
Vittorio Gassman and ?

34. Unknown
(same as # 26)

35. Unknown

36. Chained (1934)
Clark Gable and Joan Crawford

37. Senso (1954, It.)
Farley Granger and Alida Valli

38. Unknown
(same as # 35)

39. The Son of the Sheik (1926)
Rudolph Valentino and Vilmy Banky

40. Unknown

41. Unknown

42. Bellissima (1952, It.)
Anna Magnani and Gastone Renzelli

43. Unknown

44. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Olivia De Havilland and Errol Flynn

45. Grand Hotel (1932)
Greta Garbo and John Barrymore

46. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman

47. Platinum Blonde (1931)
Jean Harlowe and Robert Williams

Fine/The End