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.
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.