Cary Grant stars in this post-war feel-good flick about three beleaguered naval officers whose precious 4-day shore leave is threatened at every turn. At first, it’s disappointing to see Grant slumming it in a party movie, but then there’s a little anti-war sentiment that threatens to elevate the material… before ultimately sinking it. Kiss Them For Me is ultimately an overbearing message movie, with Grant’s character repeatedly explaining to lay people and press alike that war isn’t glorious. Maybe the film served an important function counterbalancing war propaganda from the ’40s, but taken on its own, the message gets tedious very quickly. The line should have been drawn after Grant’s first dramatic outburst (a fine moment for him and the movie), and well before a wounded soldier is wheeled out for exhibition, full of hope and oblivious to his terminal diagnosis.
It could just be my hillbilly roots, but I get a kick out of this corny but highly entertaining romp from the director of Singin’ in the Rain. A kind-hearted woman (Jane Powell) impulsively marries a mountain man (the booming Howard Keel) but gets more than she bargained for when he introduces his six brothers in the squalor of their remote farm house. Powell is the heart of the movie. Making the best of it, she tries to civilize Keel’s six lonely brothers to improve their chances of finding their own brides.
