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 ---

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.

jdimeo I wanted to love this movie. How could I not love it? Cary Grant, Jayne Mansfield, Stanley Donen; all icons in their own way. However, the train wreck that was Suzy Parker ruined the entire experience for me. Her acting was so appalling that I sat there with my jaw hanging open, not believing my eyes or ears. I could barely make it through one viewing, THAT'S how hideous she is in this.Cary? Gorgeous and in fine dramatic form. Jayne? Adorable, endearing, and obviously having a ball. The supporting cast does alright, and the city of San Francisco is captured in all its stunning, retro elegance.Then you see Suzy Parker attempting to speak her lines with a woodenness, a deadness, a cluelessness that simply defies belief. Who told this creature she could ACT?? Oy VEY, people.

theowinthrop KISS THEM FOR ME is about three naval officers who are returned to the states during wartime on furlough. One, Ray Walston, is up for a Congressional seat in his district, and actually may be able to get out soon. The other two (Cary Grant and Larry Blyden) have earned the furlough for their heroism. But there is a slight chance they too can get excused from further war duty, if they are picked up for stateside war service. This brings up the how: Werner Klemperer (as a naval brass insider) can connect them to industrialists who need their expertise to present the companies goods for government contracts.This aspect of the war (of all wars) is rarely recalled on Memorial Day or Veteran's Day. Few movies deal with the issue - the best known one is ALL MY SONS, wherein Burt Lancaster discovers how his father, Edward G. Robinson, sacrificed the lives of seventeen fliers in the Pacific to maintain a contract with the Government using defective pistons. But that film was based on Arthur Miller's stage play. In SAVE ONE FOR ME we actually see the mechanism of the incipient military industrial complex in Klemperer's character. We also see the types who are looking for front men like Blyden and Grant to push their contracts. The first one Leif Ericson, is a totally unlikeable bully who really has little time for military people (Grant finally punches him in the nose, breaking off their possible business arrangement). The second, Richard Deacon, is a babbitt type who just keeps pushing his favorite subject - paper. He manufactures paper.This is supposed to be a comedy, so the sexual business dealing with Grant, Blyden, Walston, Jayne Mansfield, Suzy Parker is for the audience's entertainment. But the irony of this arrangement is that the film is weakened."SPOILERS AHEAD" At the end Walston is elected to Congress, and Klemperer has succeeded in getting Blyden and Grant placed with Deacon. But just as it looks like they are out of it, they hear that their ship was sunk with all hands in a battle. Deacon, who is too innocuous to realize that silence is best at this moment, is told by Grant to shut up (thus ending that relationship) and he and Blyden decide they must go back to the Pacific to finish the job their lost comrades had started. Walston, holding back trying to convince them they are fools, realizes that if he stays he'll look like an opportunist and coward, so he joins them in returning.As you can see, the film had's theme had more bite to it than a frothy sex romp (like the contemporary THE PERFECT FURLOUGH with Tony Curtis). If the sex bit had been handled differently (to accent what the three men were sacrificing - with their ill-fated comrades - by fighting for their country) it would have been a more memorable film. As it is it is entertaining, but it is ultimately unsatisfactory for it's imbalance.