HotToastyRag Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson are paired together again in this 1940s musical that's a cross between The Mark of Zorro and The Court Jester. After getting an education in Boston, Frankie returns home to California to take over his dead father's hotel business. J. Carrol Naish, his father's faithful sidekick, is delighted to have another leader, but when Frankie arrives, they're both disappointed. It turns out, the hotel business was a cover-up—Frankie's dad was really "The Kissing Bandit" who kissed women after robbing their stagecoaches. Frankie's not a crook or a ladies' man, so J. Carrol Naish has his hands full when trying to train the new bandit.Hidden in this cute and colorful musical are cameos by Mildred Natwick, Cyd Charisse, Ricardo Montalban, and Ann Miller. Yes, it's a little campy and corny, but compared to a lot of 1940s silly musicals, this one is pretty cute. There are some funny jokes and cute songs, including Kathryn Grayson's "Love is Where You Find It". If you're not looking for anything too serious, rent The Kissing Bandit for a fun girls' weekend!

MartinHafer The IMDb score for this film is under 5--indicating it's a bad film. While I agree it is very slight and has many problems, the film isn't bad and is a decent time-passer.Frank Sinatra is completely wrong for the part, though his singing was great--better than his co-star Kathryn Grayson. He plays a Bostonian who has moved to Mexican California (before it became a part of the US). His thick New Jersey accent sounds completely unlike a Bostonian and midway through the film he is impersonating a man from Spain!! As I said, he's completely wrong for the film.Sinatra moves to California to assume control of his father's inn. However, he doesn't realize that inn-keeping was NOT his father's real job--he was the infamous 'Kissing Bandit'. When the father's old henchman (J. Carrol Naish) informs him he MUST assume control of the old gang and take up the tradition of kissing fair ladies who he robs, Sinatra is afraid--he doesn't think he is up to the task! When he's on his first robbery, he meets a gorgeous lady (Grayson) and ISN'T up to the task--and cannot make himself kiss her. It isn't that he's not attracted--it just seems wrong to kiss a stranger! As for her, she's intrigued...and a bit disappointed he didn't kiss her! The story gets a lot weirder--especially when later Sinatra and Naish pose as emissaries from Spain--and Grayson's father (the Governor) wines and dines them! What's next? Tune in and see.As for the plot, it's really silly--completely silly, actually. And, in this era of political correctness, it's also likely to offend some of the more feminist bent. But it is fun! What isn't fun, however, is the singing. As I said above, Sinatra is great--with a gorgeous voice as you'd expect. As for Grayson, she has a quality voice but it's also VERY operatic--and hard on the ears. Also, most of the songs are completely forgettable. An odd exception is "Love is Where You Find it". I say odd, because only about a week ago, I heard this EXACT song in the movie "A Date for Judy" in which Jane Powell sang the same tune. While IMDb doesn't indicate it, they sounded EXACTLY the same to me--like one was perhaps not really singing the tune but using a recording of the other woman (though which is which, I have no idea). Overall, not a bad little film but a bit silly and the singing was a definite low-point.

ilprofessore-1 A strange post-World War II Technicolor curiosity from the Joe Pasternak musical unit at MGM, which had neither the budget nor the taste of the Arthur Freed unit on the same lot. Set in Mexican California as imagined by the Culver City art department, the bandit Chico is played broadly by the dialectician J. Carrol Naish (Irish) with a fake bulbous nose worthy of W.C. Fields; Don Jose by the Moscow-Art-Theater actor Mikhail Rasumny; and Ricardo by Hoboken-born Italian-American Frank Sinatra in his skinny bobby socker's heart-throb days. Along the way you'll see Ann Miller, Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charrise dancing and not acting to choreography by soon to be director Stanley Donen. Future cowboy star Ben Johnson did some of the stunts. Cinematography by Robert Surtees is replete with soft- focus close-ups of Kathryn Grayson who often looks as if she was photographed through Vaseline. The film was directed by the Hungarian Laslo Benedek, best remembered today for THE WILD ONE (1963) with Brando. Sad to note, the real Mexicans in the cast were delegated to minor roles.

bkoganbing The Kissing Bandit was the third and final film that Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson co-starred at MGM with. The first two were Anchors Aweigh and It Happened in Brooklyn. And in both Sinatra wooed and lost Grayson. I guess the third time's the charm.For romance maybe, but definitely not for screen image. Sinatra in his forty's films once again plays the nice little schnook only this time in toreador pants. Poaching on Tyrone Power's territory laid out in The Mark of Zorro, Sinatra plays the son of a man who was a hotel owner by day and The Kissing Bandit by night. He's gone and left California for an education and has come back ready to take Dad's place, but in the hotel business only. And where does he learn the hotel business, Boston.Of course some of Dad's former gang members, grown a little old and paunchy led by J. Carrol Naish, want him to lead the gang again. But Frank's just not cut out for the outlaw life. But he does make a good impression on the Governor's daughter, Kathryn Grayson.Somebody must have had it in for Sinatra at MGM to cast him in this after the bad reviews he got in Miracle of the Bells. Frank's in a part that was more suitable for Red Skelton. But since this was a musical, I guess the brain trust at MGM figured Kathryn Grayson had to have a singing co-star.In fact the best number in the film are for her, Love Is Where You Find It. Also Ricardo Montalban, Ann Miller, and Cyd Charisse do a dance specialty that is nice. Frank's songs are nice, but nothing spectacular.In later years, Sinatra would wince at the mention of The Kissing Bandit and with good reason.