Kiss Them for Me

Kiss Them for Me is a 1957 American romantic comedy film directed by Stanley Donen in CinemaScope, starring Cary Grant, Jayne Mansfield and model-turned-actress Suzy Parker in her first film role. The film is an adaptation of the 1945 Broadway play of the same name, itself based on Frederic Wakeman Sr.'s 1944 novel Shore Leave. The supporting cast features Ray Walston, Werner Klemperer, Leif Erickson, and Larry Blyden. Plot Three decorated Navy pilots returned from the Pacific to Honolulu. They finagle a four-day leave in San Francisco flying there and back in a friend's PBY Catalina. They land a posh suite at the Fairmont San Francisco Hotel where Commander Andy Crewson, a master of procurement, arranges to populate it with wine, women and song. Blonde bombshell Alice Kratzner is one of these women, lured to the suite under the false pretense that Crewson has a stash of nylon stockings. Once there, she is naturally attracted to Crewson, but later turns her attention to Lieutenant McCann, a married man who also is in the process of running for a Congressional seat back home in Massachusetts. If he is elected, McCann can leave the Navy immediately and return to civilian life. Lieutenant Wallace tries to get the three pilots, including "Mississip'", to make morale-raising speeches at the plants of shipyard magnate Eddie Turnbill, so that Turnbill will vouch for the men with the Navy and also to grease a lucrative job for himself upon leaving the service. Crewson and his cohorts, however, are physically and mentally exhausted from the war and simply want to enjoy a few days away from it.