Rico wrote:From- Greed-directed by Erich Von Stroheim.
The bird kissing scene precedes the one where McTeague throws the guy down a steep cliff for hurting his bird. After the cliff scene the title card reads something like, 'and this is what McTeague was like'. An indication of the kind of dynamite that lay under the central character of this incredible film.
That scene is bookended by one of the final scenes. Stuck in Death Valley, handcuffed to the dead Marcus and therefore doomed himself, McTeague unveils the bird he has been hauling everywhere, kisses it again, and tries to set it free. It promptly drops dead from thirst and heat.
Any other film bookended by matching bird-kissing-means-death shots? If not, chalk up another brilliant innovation to von Stroheim...
Jim