The Kissing Bandit (1948)

I bought and watched this solely as a Sinatra completist. I has no illusions, I've been hearing for years how bad it was and now I've seen for myself. Four For Texas, Sergeants Three, Marriage On The Rocks, want some beating but Kissing Bandit is up to the task. Basically it's Destry Rides Again crossed with The Desert Song with spin, the spin being that the Sinatra character really IS a big girl's blouse and not Macho Man in drag. For reasons best known to himself J. Carroll Naish sports a false nose but otherwise he and the ever reliable Mildred Natwick work their socks off in support while Ann Miller and Cyd Charisse contribute class in a tacked-on number shot in isolation. See it once just to say you have.

I saw this when it was first run and enjoyed it (I was 11). I recently saw it on DVD and, while I didn't enjoy it as much as the first time, it was still fun. First the good: Kathryn Grayson is beautiful as ever and her voice is as good as it ever was. Frank Sinatra handles his singing duties in great style. Ricardo Montalban, Ann Miller and Cyd Charisse perform a dance that is the best part of the movie. Now the bad: the story line is weak and unbelievable and both Sinatra and Grayson seem uncomfortable with their roles. Sinatra in particular seems out of place in the action scenes. Sinatra and Grayson have no spark between them which makes the love story part seem a little hard to believe. It is not one of the greatest musicals, but it is far from the worst. The music is forgettable, except for Kathryn's "Love Is Where You Find It", and there are not real laugh-out-loud moments, but all in all it is pleasant enough way to spend a couple of hours.

A strange post-World War II Technicolor curiosity from the Joe Pasternak musical unit at MGM, which had neither the budget nor the taste of the Arthur Freed unit on the same lot. Set in Mexican California as imagined by the Culver City art department, the bandit Chico is played broadly by the dialectician J. Carrol Naish (Irish) with a fake bulbous nose worthy of W.C. Fields; Don Jose by the Moscow-Art-Theater actor Mikhail Rasumny; and Ricardo by Hoboken-born Italian-American Frank Sinatra in his skinny bobby socker's heart-throb days. Along the way you'll see Ann Miller, Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charrise dancing and not acting to choreography by soon to be director Stanley Donen. Future cowboy star Ben Johnson did some of the stunts. Cinematography by Robert Surtees is replete with soft- focus close-ups of Kathryn Grayson who often looks as if she was photographed through Vaseline. The film was directed by the Hungarian Laslo Benedek, best remembered today for THE WILD ONE (1963) with Brando. Sad to note, the real Mexicans in the cast were delegated to minor roles.

Perhaps the director was trying for another PIRATE (Good Garland and Kelly musical) -- but this lame musical epoch falls flat. Sinatra and Kathryn Graysons voices do not blend well -- and their chemistry together lacks spark. The premise of Sinatra as a sweet guy who tries to impersonate his late "bandito" father is okay, but he seems awkward in the role. What's amazing and wonderful here, is how Sinatra can take a rather insipid song and make it seem special -- his phrasing and eloquence as a singer make you want to hear it again. When Grayson sings the same songs it's hard to believe she's not singing something entirely different and not nearly as interesting. She has her big moment with "Love Is Where You Find It" which suits her perfectly and shows off her abilities. The photography is lucious and both stars look appealing as do the costumes and sets. Co-stars Mildred Natwick and J. Carroll Nash put lots of energy into making the impossible work. Aside from Sinatra's singing there is a strange menage-a-tois dance with Ricardo Montalban, Cyd Charisse and Ann Miller. It's fascinating and weird. Montalban and Charisse were a wonderful dancing team and this number is a real oddity.