Kiss Them for Me (1957)

Sadly Over-hyped

Powerful

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The mildly amusing World War II romantic comedy, "Kiss Them for Me," has little that will linger in memory beyond the closing credits. Three navy officers stop a taxiing plane on the runway and hitch a ride for an unofficial leave in San Francisco, where they spend four days in a luxury hotel suite chasing women, drinking booze, and making fools out of the shore patrol. Credibility is not among the film's assets. Cary Grant is always smooth and likable in these breezy parts, although his age and British accent remain unexplained. However, Cary gets away with these anomalies, and he is under the sure direction of Stanley Donen, who keeps things light. This director/star team went on to make two more memorable films together, "The Grass is Greener" and the classic "Charade." Beyond the preposterous plot, another credibility gap surfaces when Grant and Suzy Parker fall for each other. Parker is leaden as Grant's love interest. The supposedly romantic couple has zero chemistry, and Grant and Parker do their best to avoid locking lips or showing mutual warmth. Such are the mysteries of true love in the 1950's. However, Jayne Mansfield is a delight as the not-too-bright Alice Kratzner, whose hair is natural, except for the color. Mansfield lights up the film, and she is missed, both physically and comically, when off screen. Larry Blyden and Ray Walston play Grant's sidekicks, and both are fine, although subtlety is not a hallmark of anyone's performance. Donen keeps his performers moving and maintains a lively pace, although the film's stage origins are evident.Despite the romantic black hole of the Grant-Parker romance, "Kiss them for Me" is a frothy couple of hours, although, with the exception of a new respect for Jayne Mansfield, the film's ephemeral charms will dissipate before "The End" has faded from the screen.

I thought the movie was good for several reasons: 1) The movie show how people (even in 2008) running for office will use their military service and combat experience as a means to justify their reasons why they should be elected to office. Ray Walston's character felled on the floor and hurt himself. He stated that if this was combat, he could have gotten the Purple Heart and look good on his war record. In the movie Alvarez Kelly, Kelly told Major Steadman, that Steadman would profit from the war because after the war, the major would use his rank and war record to advance his lawyer career even though Steadman was a believer in the Union cause.2) Cary Grant's character was great in that he was suffering from combat fatigue and just want to be left alone and have fun on his R&R. Most soldiers usually go about drinking and trying to hook up with ladies after being pulled out of combat. One of his fellow pilots was having nightmares about him being shot down in flames. At the end, of the movie, when Grant and his boys go back to the war, we have no idea of whether the third Navy pilot will be shot down or not.3) The movie shows a hidden cost of war because there was a navy pilot from one of Grant's unit who was confined to a wheelchair due to serious wounds incurred in combat. The Navy Warrant Officer who accompany the wounded man inform Grant that the man was slowly dying and would succumb to his wounds in a short time.4) Some of the reviewers stated that Grant was too old and look too old to play a World War II pilot. I read a book about U.S. Navy aviation where the Navy due to expansion of the war first raise the qualification age to fly at 27 and later, they raise it to age 35. I have seen 1940s pictures of General Albert Wedemeyer, and he look like he was in his 50s when actually he was in his 40s during World War II. Grant either had his hair dye black or his hair was still black before it started to turn gray. You also have to remember that before World War II, many military guys in their late 20s, 30s and 40s were still lieutenants, captains, or majors. In the enlisted ranks, you had to wait four years to become private first class and to become a three stripe sergeant rank you had to do 12 to 18 years of military service. Pomotions were slow back in those days, and you usually got promoted (as an officer) based on seniority. There was no up or out policy if you did not get promotion in a timely fashion in the military. The up and out policy slowly started after World War II and is now the norm in today's military even among the sergeant ranks.5) When the leading lady in the movie asked Grant what job he did have before the war, Grant stated he did a little bit of everything. That's not surprisingly considering the fact that America and the rest of the world went through a Great Depression starting in 1929. People had to take what ever jobs they could find (which were far and few) to survive. In addition, the American workforce had no job security protection in terms of better labor laws until Franklin Roosevelt came into office.

Oh dear, oh dear...For JM fans, this was the nail in the coffin as far as her A-list Hollywood career was concerned. After solid turns in Girl Can't Help It, Wayward Bus, The Burglar and Rock Hunter it seemed Jayne was well on the way to becoming one of Tinsel Town's hottest stars. However, an obsession with racy publicity and an appearance in this clunker relegated Mansfield to the sidelines, namely cheap Euro loan-outs until Fox could drop her contract at the earliest opportunity.This movie really is a diabolical waste of everyone's time with the exception of Suzy Parker who is the only thing in this movie bad enough for the material. Many people blame poor Jayne and her grating performance for this film's poor returns at the box office and while she is a pain in this film, she can only do her best with the material. After all, Cary hardly sets the screen on fire does he? After a handful of very good dramatic and comedy turns Jayne takes 10 steps back in her pursuit as a serious actress by agreeing (simply for the sake of appearing with Grant) to portray this squealing, idiotic menace. Her character of Alice is a complete cartoon bimbo and although she looks good enough to eat in a boiler suit, her every appearance in the film jangles your nerves. We all know Jayne could do so much better than this dross and yet here she is parading around like a prize pudding. A real shame.Steer clear of this so-called comedy. It's more depressing than funny.

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!