Robert J. Maxwell Three heroic naval aviators, led by LCDR Cary Grant, wangle four days leave in crowded wartime San Francisco. They are very happy, having spent several years in the Pacific shooting down enemy planes, being wounded, and contracting malaria. Their only goal is "to get drunk and chase girls." Their warder in the city is Werner Klemperer -- also known as Colonel Klink and as the son of famed conductor Otto Klemperer -- who wangles them all sorts of perquisites including a suite at the Fairmont, where loud parties are often in progress.It's fun. All of us like to see those we approve of having fun. But one irritating obstacle after another threatens to trip them on the hedonistic treadmill. First, there is Suzie Parker, model, who insinuates herself into Grant's affections. Then there is the manager of the Fairmont, whose objections grow more emphatic and who winds up locked in the closet. Then there is the Shore Patrol, regularly nattering them for being in summer kakhis instead of blues. There are solemn encounters with old friends now dying in hospital. Finally, there is poor Lief Erickson, owner of a ship yard, who tries to persuade the trio to tour his plants and make pep speeches to the employees to boost morale, meanwhile removing them from combat duty and seeing that they're properly rewarded. "I know how much money you boys make," bringing a sour expression to Grant's face.The pace is pretty fast. Episodes and gags follow one another pretty quickly except for some lugubrious dialog involving Suzie Parker, her lost love, and her gradual yielding to the advances of Grant. When you get right down to it, Suzie Parker looks the part of a model out of Vogue or the New York Times Magazine but as an actress she's not convincing. Jayne Mansfield and the bust that precedes her by a quarter of a mile brings more life to the party. There's something a little troublesome about Grant's character too. As an extremely accomplished and brave pilot he is given a good deal of moral authority and he sometimes misuses it to politely and ironically humiliate those who pay some tribute -- minor or otherwise -- to his status. In a bar he spills a civilian's drink and the victim compliments him on his uniform. "My, civilians are so sensitive these days," says Grant. An intelligent and honest reporter for the Chronicle tries to get a few words from him and Grant treats him with disdain. The blustering and ever importuning Lief Erickson gets a belt in the chops for his trouble. The viewer is always on Grant's side, but still ---

utgard14 This really isn't a very good movie. It's a curiosity due to Cary Grant appearing in the same movie as Jayne Mansfield. She looks good but that's it for her. Cary tries very hard but it's all just so terribly uninteresting. As a drama it has too much forced comedy and as a comedy it's too dramatic. I also tend to find Ray Walston annoying and this movie doesn't change that. I do like his work later in his career when he was an old man, though. There were quite a few of these naval comedies in the '50s and, of course, on television in the '60s. Not sure why but I would guess it's the usual Hollywood M.O. of copying something that was successful. After Mister Roberts it seems these things just started popping up every year.This movie is just a reminder of why, from the late '50s to the late '60s, Hollywood seemed to be in the dark ages. There are some great films made during that time, particularly from Hitchcock, but there are far more that were just completely forgettable. The studio system was pretty much dead and most of the talent from the '30s & '40s was either gone or past their primes. You could count the quality stars who came about in the '50s on one hand. So the period this move was made in was, in my opinion, the worst period for Hollywood movie-making and is only rivaled by maybe the early '90s.

secondtake Kiss Them for Me (1957)"Funny how everybody picks him out first." Ah, they are talking about Cary Grant, still charming and handsome and far outclassing this funny, slightly simple comedy about G.I.s on leave in San Francisco.Not that this is exactly dumb--the screenplay is even by one of the Epstein brothers (of "Casablanca" fame), and it has a few real dingers of jokes. I was laughing in stitches--sometimes. It's silly stuff but the acting is decent. The photography is by Milton Krasner, who had a long career in the black and white years and then took to widescreen color with classic taste, just finishing "An Affair to Remember" (with Grant) the same year. The credits go on, from makeup (Ben Nye) to music (Lionel Newman) to of course the director, Stanley Donen, who had a whole string of brightly colored 1950s hits, little things like "Singin' in the Rain" and "Charade."What I mean by all this is that there is no reason this movie isn't terrific, except maybe a weak as licorice story idea. Maybe, just maybe, this had resonance in 1957 with the millions of ex-soldiers still going to the movies, but I have a feeling even they were wanting something more, over a decade after it had all ended. It also doesn't help that one leading female star is Jayne Mansfield playing an embarrassing Marilyn wannabe. "It's natural," says Mansfield in one moment. "Except for the color." The other leading woman is quite the opposite in nature, a stately, restrained woman played by Suzy Parker. Parker has a short resume, mostly known as a model (with Avedon as her partner in crime), and her acting reveals more knowledge of photography than movie-making. That is, she looks good. (She was actually an accomplished photographer for awhile, too.)So, why watch this movie? For a glimpse of the times, perhaps (a kind of 1957 version of 1944, I think), including lots of great sets and some shots of San Francisco. But mostly it's Cary Grant's show, even if you aren't a fan. He's actually really good as an actor, not just as a handsome fellow. He plays his part with surprising bite, too. So what rescues this movie from its fault lines? For one, there's a steady, subtle anti-war thread that must have been relatively new to this kind of movie. There's no disrespect to soldiers or the country, but there's disdain for wallpapering over the truths of war, the use of slogans, the aggrandizing. It's refreshing still, and coming from Grant it has special bite. For another, there is a steady peppering of witty lines from all kinds of characters (not just Grant, though he leads). I'm guessing this is where Epstein shows. And then there is the love story, which isn't so convincing, but it's still a nice addition to the bright color and busy scenes that dominate the movie. In fact, as much as Parker is a weak actress, she and Grant alone together make for some of the best parts of the film.Grant says, "True love almost always fades, but money stays green forever." And it's his sarcasm, his not believing the slogan, that is the theme of the movie.

bkoganbing Three Pacific war heroes Cary Grant, Larry Blyden, and Ray Walston, are flown to San Francisco for a furlough with the implicit understanding that they will do some public appearances for the war effort. Implicit to us the viewer, but our three naval fliers have something else in mind. Despite being terribly miscast, Cary Grant does the best he can with the material given. This is the kind of role that Kirk Douglas should have had, he'd have played the role effortlessly. When the dapper Mr. Grant finally has had enough of blowhard industrialist Leif Erickson and hauls off and belts him, you just don't quite believe it.I like very much what another reviewer wrote in saying we can see the beginning of the military industrial complex. Werner Klemperer as the Navy publicity ensign is trying first to curry favor with Erickson and later with the less obnoxious, but still annoying Richard Deacon. It's a world that Grant and Blyden don't feel a part of.Though he's with them in spirit, Ray Walston's carving his own career out by running for Congress. Some did that in World War II and in previous USA wars, most prominently in the Civil War. Two American presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes and James A. Garfield won seats in Congress while both were on active duty. Garfield left the army, but Hayes stayed and didn't take his seat until Appomatox.When this film was out Larry Blyden was appearing on Broadway in Flower Drum Song. No doubt that helped the film's popularity for Blyden got excellent reviews. And of course the pulchritudinous presence of Jayne Mansfield also helped a great deal.Even with a miscast Cary Grant, Kiss Them For Me is still enjoyable.