Kiss Them for Me

1957 "They tried so hard ... so very hard ... not to fall in love !"
5.6| 1h45m| NR| en
Details

Three navy war heroes are booked on a morale-building "vacation" in San Francisco. Once they manage to elude their ulcerated public relations officer, the trio throw a wild party with plenty of pretty girls.

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Reviews

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined
Konterr Brilliant and touching
Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
atlasmb This film about three naval airmen on leave in San Francisco lacks a few things. Either it should have been more madcap to celebrate their enjoyment of leave. Or it should have dealt more with the demands and drama of warfare. As it is, "Kiss Them for Me" lands squarely in the middle of these two alternatives like a dud.When Cary Grant meets Suzy Parker (whose voice was dubbed), there does seem to be chemistry--fueled by her striking looks and her cool demeanor. But she is no Bacall. As the film develops and more demands are placed on her performance, the cracks begin to show. Finally, it is revealed that she is little more than a mannequin.The film is adapted from a play. I have a feeling that the play was more madcap. That tone just doesn't happen with the film. The ending of the film is not fulfilling or funny. It was good to see Ray Walston in his first picture, but the film offers little else. Jayne Mansfield is over the top to the point of being silly, not sexy. Too bad.
Edgar Soberon Torchia A much better comedy than what I had read about it, "Kiss Them for Me" begins much in the vein of "The Honeymoon Machine (three military fellows and two girls in a hotel), but it turns into an antiwar product (predating the Vietnam war demonstrations), partially ruined by its propaganda resolution (who would go back to war like the three main characters do?) after its frequent condemnation of war horror, its male lead's cynic view of patriotism, and the general consensus of making love instead of war. But then it is asking too much from this motion picture, before the days of "Alice's Restaurant". Instead you have Jayne Mansfield, who although receiving top credit, plays a character that has little to do with the core of the story. Her Alice is above anything else comic relief, a titillating sex joke, and she is very funny when interplaying with Nathaniel Frey or Ray Walston. The story is more inclined to "respectability", as it concentrates in the development of the friendship between Cary Grant (as a pilot hero) and Suzy Parker (as a resourceful socialite), even if both do not have the formulaic profile of most so-called «sophisticated comedies». Grant is good as usual, and Parker is fine in her first starring role, although I read that she was dubbed, so sometimes her delivery sounds rather flat or too distant. Stanley Donen almost never disappoints in this kind of product, so watch "Kiss Them for Me", and enjoy it for what it is.
dglink 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.
wglenn Kiss Them For Me has a lot to offer - Cary Grant, Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain, Charade) as director, and Julius Epstein (Casablanca, Arsenic & Old Lace) as screenwriter - but it never really lives up to its potential. There are some funny moments here and there, but the film is more of a drama with comic elements, and the balance doesn't always work well. Viewers expecting one of Cary Grant's great comedic romps will be disappointed. Still, it's not a bad film, just an uneven one.The story is about three Navy fliers, each considered a "war hero," who embark on a four-day leave in San Francisco. They secure the "Ambassador's Suite" in a fine hotel and order up tons of liquor for their large, rowdy parties, where there are three women for every man. In the end, however, they don't get to relax and momentarily forget the war as much as they have to deal with the awkwardness between the civilian world and their own. They also have to confront the reality of life after the war. Grant, in particular, realizes that he's good at what he does (flying planes), and he's giving himself to a worthy cause that's bigger than himself, neither of which he may be able to do outside of the Pacific theatre. He's offered more than one chance to turn his reputation as a war hero into a cushy job, but he sees the emptiness and boredom that waits for him in the normal American lifestyle. Instead of talking with the powerful owner of a shipbuilding company who could help him with his financial future, he sits on the floor listening to jazz and flirting with the owner's fiancée.Unfortunately, Donen and Epstein don't seem to trust these dramatic elements and inject a poorly developed romance into the film, which undoes some otherwise good writing and leads, finally, to a flat ending. Maybe if they'd found a suitable female lead to play off Grant, the romance would have worked better, but Suzy Parker is stiff and wooden on screen, and her character grows wearisome after a while. The best that can be said for her is that she provides a little relief from the grating presence of Jayne Mansfield, who is described in the original 1957 NY Times review of the film as, "grotesque, artificial, noisy, distasteful - and dull." And that pretty much sums it up. In the original play on Broadway, in 1945, these two women characters were evidently blended into one, played "with brilliance" by a young Judy Holliday. Oh, for a woman of her grace, wit and energy in this film version. (As a side note, Judy co-starred in the play with Richard Widmark, who played Crewson.) In the end, though, there is still Cary Grant. He saves the film from being a total waste of time. And Epstein's script has some wonderful gems scattered here and there. Also, the camaraderie between Grant and his two Navy buddies, one of them played by Ray Walston, works well most of the time. For those interested in a 50's drama about Navy fliers, you're better off watching The Bridges at Toko-Ri, with William Holden and Grace Kelly. If you want a great Cary Grant comedy, try his much better effort with Julius Epstein - Arsenic & Old Lace. If you've seen just about everything else with Cary in it, and you want something different, this one will do in a fix.