Any list of the best kisses on film (Say it with a kiss! The 20 greatest smooches on film – ranked!, 8 February) must surely include the two smouldering, literally and metaphorically, ones planted by Slim (Lauren Bacall) on the smoke-filled mouth of Steve (Humphrey Bogart) in To Have and Have Not (1944), in the days when cigarette smoking on screen was the norm.
It’s even more memorable for Bacall delivering, moments later, one of the most famous lines in film history: “You know you don’t have to act with me, Steve. You don’t have to say anything, and you don’t have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow.”
Adrian Brodkin
London
