Promises! Promises!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Promises! Promises! | |
|---|---|
 Publicity poster of Promises! Promises! |
|
| Directed by | King Donovan |
| Produced by | Tommy Noonan Donald F. Taylor |
| Written by | Tommy Noonan Edna Sheklow William Welch |
| Starring | Jayne Mansfield Marie McDonald Tommy Noonan Mickey Hargitay Fritz Feld T.C. Jones |
| Music by | Hal Borne |
| Cinematography | Joseph F. Biroc |
| Editing by | Edward Dutko |
| Release date(s) | 15 August 1963 |
| Running time | 75 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Promises! Promises! (also known as Promise Her Anything) is a 1963 unrated sex comedy film, released before the MPAA film rating system became effective, produced by Tommy Noonan (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt). It was the first Hollywood motion picture with sound to feature a mainstream star—Jayne Mansfield—in the nude.[1] Reportedly the credit was to go to Marilyn Monroe, who shot a nude scene for director George Cukor's unfinished film Something's Got to Give (1962). The credit of the first movie, with or without sound, featuring a mainstream star in the nude goes to A Daughter of the Gods (1916) featuring Annette Kellerman fully nude in a scene.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Plotline
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 Brooks (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 Banner (Marie McDonald) and King Banner (Mickey Hargitay).[3]
Both couples set out on a drunken spree. The foursome end up exchanging partners when retiring to their rooms. Later both women discover that they're pregnant, and set out to find who the fathers are, since no one is sure who the father is for which baby.[3]
[edit] Success and criticism
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 also 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, leading to an obscenity charge against Hugh Hefner, the publisher.[6] In one set of behind-the-scene images in that issue Mansfield stares at one of her breasts, as does her male secretary and a hair stylist, then grasps it in one hand and lifts it high. Hefner was arrested by the Chicago police in June 1963, the only time in his life, and was acquitted by the jury.[7] The hung jury voted 7-5 for acquittal.[8] Copies of the issue reportedly sold for as much as $10 each.[9]
[edit] Nude scenes
Mansfield appears undressed in three scenes in Promises! Promises!. These three scenes are repeated a few times in the movie as dream sequences. The first and longest (59 seconds) in a part of the scene where she sings I'm In Love (penned by herself) in a foam filled bathtub, then bends over with her back to the camera. The second when she towels herself off (4 seconds), and the most repeated (4 times) third when she writhes around on a bed (6 seconds).[10] Mansfield reportedly drank some champagne in order to give her the will to get undressed in front of the camera.[11] Though the movie actually showed her only topless, a photo in Kenneth Anger's book Hollywood Babylon shows Mansfield on the set completely nude with pubic hair visible.[12] In a set of photographs published in the Playboy pictorial (titled The Nudest Jayne Mansfield), Mansfield stares at her breast, as does T.C. Jones (Babbette, a female impersonator hair stylist), then grasps it in her hand and lifts it high.[13]
The nude scenes of this film was incorporated into the documentary Wild Wild World of Jayne Mansfield (1968), along with her other films like Too Hot to Handle (1960), The Loves of Hercules (1960) and Primitive Love (1964). The Wild Wild World also featured pages from the Playboy pictorial.[14]
[edit] 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 that has been long out of print and was fetching as much as $100 from die-hard collectors. 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 referenced above along with never before released lobby cards.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ 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. ISBN 0-521-56592-8.
- ^ 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. ISBN 0-521-56592-8.
- ^ a b Brennan, Sandra. "Promises! Promises!", The New York Times, 2006-11-25. Retrieved on 2006-11-25. (English)
- ^ Dirks, Tim. Sex in Cinema: The Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes (HTML). FIlm Site. Retrieved on 2006-11-23.
- ^ 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). ISBN 0-440-15325-5.
- ^ Has Hef ever been arrested? (HTML). Playboy Online. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ^ Edward P. Comentale, Ian Fleming and James Bond: The Cultural Politics of 007, page 57
- ^ Jayne Mansfield Biography - Part Nine: Taking it off (HTML). Bombshells. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.
- ^ Promises! Promises! (1963) (HTML). Mr. Skin. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.
- ^ Promises! Promises! (1963) (HTML). IMDB. Retrieved on 2006-11-23.
- ^ Anger, Kenneth (November 15, 1981). Hollywood Babylon: The Legendary Underground Classic of Hollywood's Darkest and Best Kept Secrets. USA: Dell (Reissue edition). ISBN 0-440-15325-5.
- ^ Parish, James Robert (May 28, 2004). The Hollywood Book of Scandals : The Shocking, Often Disgraceful Deeds and Affairs of Over 100 American Movie and TV Idols. USA: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-142189-0.
- ^ Mike Quarles, Down and Dirty: Hollywood's Exploitation Filmmakers and Their Movies, page 27
