Kiss Them for Me (film)

Kiss Them for Me

DVD cover of the film
Directed by Stanley Donen
Produced by Jerry Wald
Written by Luther Davis
Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein
Frederic Wakeman
Based on Kiss Them for Me (play)
Starring Cary Grant
Jayne Mansfield
Ray Walston
Suzy Parker
Werner Klemperer
Leif Erickson
Larry Blyden
Music by Lionel Newman
Cyril J. Mockridge
Cinematography Milton R. Krasner
Edited by Robert L. Simpson
Production
company
Jerry Wald Productions
Distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Release dates
  • December 10, 1957 (1957-12-10)
Running time
 105 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1,945,000[1]
Box office $1,800,000 (US rentals)[2]

Kiss Them for Me is a 1957 20th Century-Fox comedy film directed by Stanley Donen.[3] As an adaptation of the 1945 Broadway play of the same name,[4] the film stars Cary Grant and Jayne Mansfield, and co-stars Ray Walston, Werner Klemperer, Leif Erickson, Larry Blyden, and introduces model-turned-actress Suzy Parker[3] in her first major film role.

Plot

Three decorated Navy pilots finagle a four-day leave in San Francisco. They land a posh suite at The Fairmont San Francisco Hotel where Commander Andy Crewson (Cary Grant), a master of procurement, arranges to populate it with wine, women and song.[5]

Blonde bombshell Alice Kratzner (Jayne Mansfield) is one of these women, lured to the suite under the false pretense that Crewson has a stash of nylon stockings. Once there, she is naturally attracted to Crewson, but later turns her attention to Lieutenant McCann (Ray Walston), a married man who also is in the process of running for a Congressional seat back home in Massachusetts. If he is elected, McCann can leave the Navy immediately and return to civilian life.

Lieutenant Wallace (Werner Klemperer) tries to get the three pilots, including "Mississip'" (Larry Blyden), to make morale-raising speeches at the plants of shipyard magnate Eddie Turnbill (Leif Erickson), so that Turnbill will vouch for the men with the Navy and also to grease a lucrative job for himself upon leaving the service. Crewson and his cohorts, however, are physically and mentally exhausted from the war and simply want to enjoy a few days away from it.

Suffering from combat stress and confronted with a number of reminders of the horrors of war, Crewson tries to amuse himself by making a play for Turnbill's attractive fiancée, Gwinneth Livingston (Suzy Parker). She resists his advances at first, but ultimately throws her engagement ring in Turnbill's face. Crewson declares his love for her shortly before he and his mates board a plane leaving San Francisco to return to duty.

Cast

Reception

When released in late 1957, Kiss Them for Me was greeted with negative reviews. Critics called the film "vapid" and "ill-advised"; not to mention "no good". When the film didn't regain its production costs, Twentieth Century-Fox appeared to punish cast members, especially Jayne Mansfield, whose career was tossed on the back burner by the studio. Mansfield was resilient, however, and after several more years of starring roles landed on the Top 10 list of Box Office Attractions for 1963.

Kiss Them for Me was also the first film for actor Ray Walston, launching a long career.

The English band Siouxsie and the Banshees used the movie's name in the title and lyrics of their 1991 release "Kiss Them for Me". The song is an ode to Jayne Mansfield and her death while driving from Biloxi to New Orleans in 1967.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p250
  2. ↑ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p227
  3. 1 2 "Kiss Them for Me". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  4. ↑ LIFE 1945, p. 62.
  5. ↑ http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/80435/Kiss-Them-for-Me/

Sources

At the end of the film, USS Boxer (CV-21), an Essex Class aircraft carrier, can be seen launching a Douglas A-1 Skyraider type aircraft. (The Skyraider type was not actually used in World War II.)

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