Kiss Them for Me
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.49 You Save: $8.49 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.11 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Kiss Them for Me
Movie Review: A good play brought to the big screen
Summary: 5 Stars
Stanley Donen - Director
Julius Epstein - Writer (screenplay)
Luther Davis - Writer (play "Kiss Them for Me")
Frederic Wakeman - Writer (novel "Shore Leave")
Jerry Wald - Producer
Milton Krasner - Cinematographer
Lionel Newman - Composer
Robert Simpson - Editor
At first glance this play may seem formula and simple. The actors may look like they're walking through their parts. You may also notice other things or the absence of things that make this scene like a so-so film. However all it takes is a couple of viewings and you will mysteriously be hooked on this film and want to purchase a copy.
This is a retrospective movie made in 1957 depicting close to the end of the war in 1944. It's the story of several war heroes who finesse he leave to San Francisco for a few days to escape their positions. What would you do if you had several days leave in San Francisco and you are a war hero in 1944? Yes and that's exactly what they do. This story is about how they do it. During their leave time Cmdr. Andy Crewson (Cary Grant), Lt. (j.g.) McCann (Ray Walston), Mississip (Larry Blyden), and to an extent Lt. Walter Wallace (Werner Klemperer) must reflect on the times and what they really want out of life. To assist them in their endeavor are ship building "Typhoon" Eddie Turnbill (Leif Erickson), Eddie's fiancé Gwinneth Livingston (Suzy Parker), a ditzy girl with some profound thoughts, Alice Kratzner (Jayne Mansfield), and a dead man in a wheelchair.
This is a story about choices. What did they choose in the end? Would you have chosen the same?
Now able to view it on a 42" screen I noticed that they did not over makeup Suzy Parker. You can still see her cute freckles.
South Pacific (Collector's Edition)
Movie Review: Great Classic Cary Grant,Jayne Mansfield Movie!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great classic Cary Grant Jayne Mansfield Movie that's finally released on DVD.It's a must see flick!!!Movie Review: Donen delivers!
Summary: 4 Stars
"Kiss Them for Me" is a little known (or at least, lesser known), comedy gem from 1957. Stanley Donen works wonders with a reserved approach, allowing the stellar cast to do their thing, which brings alive the comdeic elements while not overshadowing the more serious moments.Cary Grant is always marvelous, and his performance here is no exception. His Commander Crewson is a fairly typical Grant role of a part-goldbrick, part-devil-may-care military officer, a standard Grant character. But then, we have some magical moments interspersed with the suave Grant comedy that gives him a chance to really go for the dramatic gusto.
Three soldiers, who have made incredible and heroic contributions to the battles of World War II are being set up for a PR tour to promote the war effort. Crewson and his cohorts decide to have some fun in San Francisco instead, and finagle their way into a few days leave. Once there, it's a life of ease, except for the fact that they're not exactly on an approved leave, and the shore patrol is on the lookout for the rogue heroes. Each man wants to just get out of the line of fire, having seen enough of it, and are not interested in promoting anything but their own freedom, if just for a few days.
Two great Grant dramatic moments will stay with you for sure; in the first, Grant tells off a pushy millionaire who wants the men to give a rah-rah speech to his factory workers. In the other, Crewson meets a fellow soldier he knew, a young man who got a bad break in battle.
Ray Walston and Larry Blyden offer excellent support as Crewson's war hero comrades, and Werner Klemperer ("Hogan's Heroes") stands out as a military PR man shepherding the three semi-awol soldiers. Jayne Mansfield plays a typical "dumb blonde" as usual, and Richard Deacon ("The Dick van Dyke Show") appears in a small, but memorable supporting role as a shy paper magnate.
It's too bad this one isn't better known. Perhaps this is beacuse the movie does not touch the lofty heights of comedy met in "Operation Petticoat" or "Father Goose". Instead, the film is a comedy-drama about WWII, and was possibly aimed at a more mature audience, both of which make the movie a bit more tense for the casual viewer. This is especially true in the last third or so, as the focus wanders a bit into more mature and serious areas, then tries to wander out again by the end.
Regardless, the film is well worth viewing at least once, and is an excellent example of a late 50's "grown-up" film.
Movie Review: Cary Grant's "Lost" Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
Three stars as a movie, but an extra half-star for Cary Grant's remarkable portrayal.
This film doesn't get a lot of airplay and isn't well-known -- it was unsuccessful because of its split personality.
Grant fought to make this movie, as he wanted to bring out into the open the ongoing problem of what we know today as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but the studio wanted another "light-hearted war comedy", and the movie suffers from the tug between the two themes.
Grant's portrayal of a war-weary naval aviator trying to cope with his illness might have garnered him an Oscar nomination in another film, but still rings true even with the studio-required script changes.
It also points out the differences in attitude and perception between combat veterans and both civilians and even those in the military who spend a war safely at home.
Also notable as Ray Walston's first film, playing a fellow aviator running for Congress by long-distance.
Movie Review: Fun, But Not Classic Cary Grant Comedy With A Good Jayne Mansfield Performance
Summary: 3 Stars
By 1957 Cary Grant had his screen characterisations down pat and was able to move effortlessly through comic roles like this one in "Kiss Them For Me". Never could "Kiss then For Me", be called his best effort in a decade that saw most of his famous collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock in "To Catch a Thief", and "North by North West", bring him renewed popularity at the Box Office, however he works very effectively with a very different type of director here in Stanley Donen. Grant would enjoy one of his greatest successes under Donen's direction in the early 1960's with the classic "Charade", with Audrey Hepburn and while this is a much lesser effort that great comic timing and style is very evident. At first glance having Jayne Mansfield as his leading lady might not be what you would expect in a Cary Grant movie having become used to the Irene Dunne's and Katherine Hepburn's as his leading ladies in his earlier triumphs however the two make an interesting team. I find this to be one of Mansfield's more pleasing performances where she gets to utilise her vastly underestimated comic abilities which of course are still wrapped up in the screen persona of the luscious blonde bombshell, a la Marilyn Monroe, which she sadly always found herself lumbered with. Cynical comedy is always hard to put over effectively on screen but Grant does his usual fine job as a navy war hero on a four day leave of duty at the end of World War II who along with his mates find themselves the targets of a cynical money making PR campaign promoting the war effort.