Kiss Them For Me (1957)

Set during WWII in 1944, three Navy pilots (Cary Grant, Ray Walston, Larry Blyden) orchestrate a 4 day leave in San Francisco where they plan to celebrate with booze and broads! Based on the Broadway play by Luther Davis which in turn is based on the novel SHORE LEAVE by Frederic Wakeman and directed by Stanley Donen (CHARADE). A bit of a slog to get through. Why anyone thought to resurrect an unsuccessful play which closed in four months on Broadway in 1945 is anybody's guess. It's not as if it was a critically acclaimed gem waiting to be rediscovered. A miscast Cary Grant is a bit mature for the role of a hot shot pilot out for a good time (a young Richard Widmark played the role in the play) and the film accomplishes something one wouldn't think possible. It renders Grant utterly charmless. Nothing works except for the occasional spark Jayne Mansfield (playing Judy Holliday's stage role) brings to the film. With Suzy Parker, Leif Erickson, Werner Klemperer, Kathleen Freeman, Nancy Kulp and Richard Deacon.