A much better comedy than what I had read about it, "Kiss Them for Me" begins much in the vein of "The Honeymoon Machine (three military fellows and two girls in a hotel), but it turns into an antiwar product (predating the Vietnam war demonstrations), partially ruined by its propaganda resolution (who would go back to war like the three main characters do?) after its frequent condemnation of war horror, its male lead's cynic view of patriotism, and the general consensus of making love instead of war. But then it is asking too much from this motion picture, before the days of "Alice's Restaurant". Instead you have Jayne Mansfield, who although receiving top credit, plays a character that has little to do with the core of the story. Her Alice is above anything else comic relief, a titillating sex joke, and she is very funny when interplaying with Nathaniel Frey or Ray Walston. The story is more inclined to "respectability", as it concentrates in the development of the friendship between Cary Grant (as a pilot hero) and Suzy Parker (as a resourceful socialite), even if both do not have the formulaic profile of most so-called «sophisticated comedies». Grant is good as usual, and Parker is fine in her first starring role, although I read that she was dubbed, so sometimes her delivery sounds rather flat or too distant. Stanley Donen almost never disappoints in this kind of product, so watch "Kiss Them for Me", and enjoy it for what it is.
Review of Kiss Them for Me
