Main Cast: Jayne Mansfield, Marie McDonald, Mickey Hargitay, Tommy Noonan, Fritz Feld
Release Year: 1963
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Jayne Mansfield bares almost all (and became the first Hollywood actress to do so) in this nearly universally panned sex comedy from the early 1960s. In the story, poor Sandy is desperate to get pregnant. Unfortunately, her husband, a television script writer, is too wound up over his high stress job to make love to her at night even though he too, wants a child. To help him loosen up, they go on a relaxing cruise and meet another couple. The foursome hit it off and begin drinking heavily. They soon exchange partners and retire to their rooms. Later both wives show up pregnant, but now the question remains: which baby belongs to which father? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
There are only two types of people who should bother sitting through Promises! Promises!: serious film history students who want to witness firsthand the film in which a major Hollywood star (Jayne Mansfield) first appeared nude, and those who are so enamored of Miss Mansfield's upper-tier assets that they are willing to sit through one of the world's worst films in order to view them. (Actually, to tell the truth, one only has to sit through the first few minutes to get a load of Promises' selling points, as the star appears nude from a shower quite early on. And there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to keep watching after this point.) Few sex comedies -- a genre which houses more than its share of awful films -- are as dreadful as this; the word "witless" may very well have been coined exclusively for this picture. While there is some small bit of "camp" appeal in laughing at the vapid goings-on herein, it is definitely not the kind of film that's so bad it's good. Saddled with such a terrible script, there's nothing the cast can do, so their lifeless performances are somewhat excusable. Likewise, director King Donovan seems to have thrown in the towel and simply closed his eyes and shot. Amazingly enough, even the nude scenes -- the reason for the film to exist - have no life in them. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Serge Krizman - Art Director, Vou Lee Giokaris - Costume Designer, Patrick W. Cummings - Costume Designer, Mr. Blackwell - Costume Designer, Ceil Chapman - Costume Designer, King Donovan - Director, Edward Dutko - Editor, Hal Borne - Composer (Music Score), Jayne Mansfield - Songwriter, Marie McDonald - Songwriter, Hal Borne - Songwriter, Roberta Day - Songwriter, Sidney Perell - Makeup, Joseph Biroc - Cinematographer, Tommy Noonan - Producer, Donald Taylor - Producer, Victor A. Gangelin - Set Designer, William Welch - Screenwriter, Tommy Noonan - Screenwriter, Edna Sheklow - Play Author
The plot revolves around two married couples who go on a cruise together. Sandy Brooks (Mansfield) is desperate to get pregnant, but her husband Jeff (Tommy Noonan), a television script writer, is too stressed out to make love to her. In an attempt at a sea change, they go on a pleasure cruise and meet another couple, Claire and King Banner (Marie McDonald and Mickey Hargitay).[3]
Both couples set out on a drunken spree. They end up changing partners when retiring to their rooms. Later both women discover that they're pregnant, and set out to find whether the fathers are their own or the other's husband.[3]
Success and criticism
June 1963 issue of Playboy featuring Mansfield on cover and The Nudest Jayne Mansfield pictorial
Promises! Promises! was banned in Cleveland and several other cities, though both the original and an edited version enjoyed box office success elsewhere.[4] Mansfield was voted one of the Top 10 Box Office Attractions by theater owners that year. She received $150,000 for her role (half of the film's budget) and 10% of the film's profits.[5]
The film was heavily publicized in July 1963 issue of Playboy, and led to an obscenity charge against Hugh Hefner, the publisher.[6] Hefner was arrested by the Chicago police in June 1963, the only time in his life, and was acquitted by the jury.[7] The jury voted 7-5 for acquittal.[8] Copies of the issue reportedly sold for as much as $10 each.[9]
Mansfield and Tommy Noonan in the most repeated nude scene of the movie
After Mansfield's death, the documentary Wild Wild World of Jayne Mansfield (1968) included nude scenes from this film and pages from the Playboy pictorial, along with scenes from her other films including Too Hot to Handle (1960), The Loves of Hercules (1960) and Primitive Love (1964).[10]
Video release
The film was presented for the first time on television in its uncut form in 1984 on the Playboy Channel. A VHS release soon followed but was only briefly in print. On February 14, 2006, VCI Video released the film on DVD with extras such as original trailers and a gallery of stills from the Playboy issue along with never before released lobby cards.
^Black, Gregory D. (January 26, 1996). Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies (Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communication). UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-56592-8.
^Black, Gregory D. (January 26, 1996). Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies (Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communication). UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-56592-8.
^Jayne Mansfield: A Bio-bibliography by Jocelyn Faris, p. 10
^Anger, Kenneth (November 15, 1981). Hollywood Babylon: The Legendary Underground Classic of Hollywood's Darkest and Best Kept Secrets. USA: Dell (Reissue edition). ISBN0-440-15325-5.
