Kiss Them for Me (1957)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Just perfect...

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Three Navy pilots earn themselves a four day break in San Francisco and rent a swanky suite in a hotel. Commander Crewson (Cary Grant) promptly arranges for the suite to be a party venue for like minded adults, but stumbling blocks come thick and fast, the pilots are requested to make speeches to rally the home front at shipyard magnate Eddie Turnbill's yards, but the boys don't want to do it, they wish to forget the war. Crewson also starts to fall for Turnbill's lady, Gwinneth Livingston, while scatter brained but demur blonde, Alice Kratzner is stirring the passions of all she comes across, most notably Lieutenant McCann.Directed by the very talented Stanley Donen, and adapted by Julius J. Epstein from Luther Davis' less than successful play, Kiss Them For Me is something of an oddity. It's an uncomfortable splice of comedy and drama and never fully satisfies in either department, with the cast being a very mixed bunch that has divided opinions right across the board. Its satire heart is fine, and to a degree it works, nobody in their right mind could fail to not emphasise with members of the armed forces being fed up with the grind of war, especially since the guys here are not bluffers who haven't done their bit for the war effort. The film also has a bit to promote as regards self promoting tactics of business men not engaged in the forces themselves, but these little proposed edgy slants are asked to sit side by side with sexy comedy and the inevitable romantic plot strands, thus the film almost sinks within its attempt at genre fusion.After reading a number of reviews as regards the cast, I too find myself having a very different view of things, but the one thing i'm adamant about is that Cary Grant most certainly isn't miscast here, he's actually the films one true saving grace, some of his delivery of the barbed wired dialogue is first class. Suzy Parker (Livingstone) appears to get the most stick that is flailing around, but she really isn't that bad, no trees being pulled up but she is tidy enough working off Grant, looks fantastic (definitely giving Jean Simmons a run for her money in the gorgeous bone structured face department), and crucially she's far better than the annoyingly dull Jayne Mansfield (Alice Kratzner). Mansfield has her marker in cinema history, her shtick has worked in a couple of decent movies (The Girl Can't Help It & Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?), but it doesn't here, and it's one of the main reasons the film doesn't quite make it as a rewarding watch. Too much effort is made to shoehorn Mansfield's mugging into the equation, almost usurping the decent efforts of Ray Walston as McCann. So the film to me is pretty much a mismatched effort all round, some good moments are offset by meandering dull ones, the play failed, and really the film is just about watchable fare without being recommended as a marker for all involved. 5/10

While I recently gave OPERATION PETTICOAT a positive review, I really didn't like this film even though it had so many similarities. Both were made just a few years apart, both starred Cary Grant and both were WWII comedies. However, the overall tone and style of the films were quite different. KISS HER FOR ME, overall, just seemed like a cheaper film--with poor writing, little energy and some VERY broad performances--even when compared to OPERATION PETTICOAT. I think that at least much of the blame for this lies in casting Jayne Mansfield. The combination of her ample talents and limited acting ability really made this A-budget film look like it came from a 3rd rate studio. Plus, there wasn't much chemistry or energy in pairing her with Cary Grant--an actor generally loved for his grace and class. It's sort of like pairing Sir Lawrence Olivier with Marjorie Main.By the way, if you do watch, look for Werner Klemperer in an unusual roles as US Navy officer. Not exactly Colonel Klink!

KISS THEM FOR ME is about three naval officers who are returned to the states during wartime on furlough. One, Ray Walston, is up for a Congressional seat in his district, and actually may be able to get out soon. The other two (Cary Grant and Larry Blyden) have earned the furlough for their heroism. But there is a slight chance they too can get excused from further war duty, if they are picked up for stateside war service. This brings up the how: Werner Klemperer (as a naval brass insider) can connect them to industrialists who need their expertise to present the companies goods for government contracts.This aspect of the war (of all wars) is rarely recalled on Memorial Day or Veteran's Day. Few movies deal with the issue - the best known one is ALL MY SONS, wherein Burt Lancaster discovers how his father, Edward G. Robinson, sacrificed the lives of seventeen fliers in the Pacific to maintain a contract with the Government using defective pistons. But that film was based on Arthur Miller's stage play. In SAVE ONE FOR ME we actually see the mechanism of the incipient military industrial complex in Klemperer's character. We also see the types who are looking for front men like Blyden and Grant to push their contracts. The first one Leif Ericson, is a totally unlikeable bully who really has little time for military people (Grant finally punches him in the nose, breaking off their possible business arrangement). The second, Richard Deacon, is a babbitt type who just keeps pushing his favorite subject - paper. He manufactures paper.This is supposed to be a comedy, so the sexual business dealing with Grant, Blyden, Walston, Jayne Mansfield, Suzy Parker is for the audience's entertainment. But the irony of this arrangement is that the film is weakened."SPOILERS AHEAD" At the end Walston is elected to Congress, and Klemperer has succeeded in getting Blyden and Grant placed with Deacon. But just as it looks like they are out of it, they hear that their ship was sunk with all hands in a battle. Deacon, who is too innocuous to realize that silence is best at this moment, is told by Grant to shut up (thus ending that relationship) and he and Blyden decide they must go back to the Pacific to finish the job their lost comrades had started. Walston, holding back trying to convince them they are fools, realizes that if he stays he'll look like an opportunist and coward, so he joins them in returning.As you can see, the film had's theme had more bite to it than a frothy sex romp (like the contemporary THE PERFECT FURLOUGH with Tony Curtis). If the sex bit had been handled differently (to accent what the three men were sacrificing - with their ill-fated comrades - by fighting for their country) it would have been a more memorable film. As it is it is entertaining, but it is ultimately unsatisfactory for it's imbalance.

An interesting footnote is that "Kiss Them for Me" marked the screen debut of the Evil Extra, then an undergraduate at UC Berkeley. He can be seen deliberately compromising the continuity of the scenes of the arrival at the Fairmont Hotel: he appears first as a straw-hatted stroller on the sidewalk outside, then faces the camera as part of the crowd just inside the lobby door, then (a few moments later) stands behind the concierge desk during a foreground dialog shot.The Evil Extra was seen most recently standing at ringside in 2001's "Ocean's Eleven," mouthing an obscenity as Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia make their escape from the MGM arena.