The Hollywood production code instituted in 1934 forbade the depiction of interracial relationships. But several films began to challenge the code in the 1950s. Stanley Kubrick’s Killer’s Kiss (1955) may feature the very first kiss between a white woman (Irene Kane) and a black man (Jamaican-born Frank Silvera). Silvera, who had very light skin, was not actually playing a black character in the film, and it is doubtful much of the audience at the time would have been aware he was of African descent. Island in the Sun, from 1957, came closer. It featured a romance between a mixed-race Caribbean girl (Dorothy Dandridge) and a British colonial official (John Justin), but rather than kiss, they merely nuzzle each other’s cheeks. It may be then that The Crimson Kimono (1959) is the first Hollywood movie to feature a true interracial kiss: between Japanese-American James Shigeta and Victoria Shaw. (AF archive/Alamy) **Related: [10 controversial films that were buried](http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140428-ten-films-that-were-buried)**