Promises! Promises! (Amazon.com Exclusive)
by Jayne Mansfield, King Donovan
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DVD details
Actor: Fritz Feld, Jayne Mansfield, Marie McDonald, Mickey Hargitay, Tommy NoonanDirector: Jayne Mansfield, King Donovan
Brand: VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS INC.
Primary Contributor: Marie McDonald
Producer: Tommy Noonan
Writer: Tommy Noonan
Primary Contributor: Tommy Noonan
Cinematographer: Joseph F. Biroc
Editor: Eddie Dutko
Producer: Donald F. Taylor
Writer: Edna Sheklow
Writer: William Welch
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Black & White, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 75 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Vci Video
DVD Reviews of Promises! Promises! (Amazon.com Exclusive)
DVD Review: Promises! Promises!
Summary: 3 Stars
Jayne Mansfield's most revealing movie. Need I say more? Though the movie is in Black & White it was the subject of a Color layout in PLAYBOY....one of their best selling editions. If you're a Marilyn, Mamie and Jayne fan this is a must for your collection.Promises! Promises! (Amazon.com Exclusive) DVD Review: Old-Fashioned but Fun
Summary: 3 Stars
This a quaint 60s film with Jayne fully visible. I remember going to the college Friday night event and it was the R-rated one. This is the full deal. It is certainly old-fashioned but interesting and fun.DVD Review: Fans of Jayne will appreciate this!
Summary: 4 Stars
I remember seeing this film advertised as "For Adults Only" in the 1960s and it was shown in so-called "art houses," a moniker given to theaters that specialized in nudie films at the time. Fifty years later, I saw for myself what the hype was all about.
For the time, it was quite shocking to see a mainstream actress like Jayne Mansfield in the nude (it was mostly her bare backside and her infamous breasts). The subject matter at the time (infidelity, pregnancy, seduction) which was considered risque was also a reason why it was shown at these theaters. At any rate, this film gives the Jayne Mansfield fan an eyeful of what they've fantasized about. Considering that it was cheaply made, the quality of the film is quite good.
I have always been a fan of Tommy Noonan (he was responsible for producing the film and directed all of the publicity shots of a nude Jayne for Playboy and the press from what I read in Jayne's biography) and he does a pretty good job of playing the bewildered husband who is frantically trying to make his wife (Jayne) pregnant. They are on a cruise ship and the ship's doctor (Fritz Feld) gives him what may be the early version of Viagra in a little pill. Marie (The Body) McDonald also appears as a frustrated wife who ironically, is going through the same dilemma with her husband (the ever-so-not-talented Mickey Hargitay, Jayne's real-life husband with whom she never had a problem becoming pregnant). Between the two couples, no one is sure who slept with whom and then the fun begins. There are other characters that add to the mayhem (the flamboyantly gay and really funny T.C. Jones as a cross-dressing hairdresser, Eddie Quillan as an equally confused bartender who manages to keep Tommy Noonan plastered, and a cameo by Imogene Coca, who was married to the film's director, King Donovan. The theme song is dance quality, a bit of a calypso with strings.
I thought this film was really funny and the storyline very original. Once again, if you're a Jayne fan, then don't miss it!
DVD Review: 5 Stars Just for Jayne
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1959 a man named Russ Meyer released a film called "The Immoral Mr. Teas" and created a genre of his own called Nudie Cuties. Many immitations soon followed by other exploitation filmmakers like David Friedman, Harry Novak and Doris Wishman. But the most famous of these other cuties was the one that featured the world famous Hollywood legend, Jayne Mansfield in all her naked glory called "Promises! Promises!".
The film has been often credited as the first time a major actress has appeared nude onscreen. This is not necessarily true, Heddy Lamarr exposed her assets in "Ecstasy" in 1933, and Annette Kellerman did the same in "A Daughter of the Gods" even earlier in 1916. However, being this is mainstream Hollywood here, this certainly can be considered very bold for it's time.
In 1963, Jayne's career was on the decline. Blonde bombshells were being tossed aside in favor of more sophisticated brunettes like Audrey Hepburn, Mary Tyler Moore among others due to what I call the "Jackie Kennedy cultural phase". So Jayne needed a gimmick to boost her career and this is what she chose, something totally outragous as always.
Is this film worth watching? Yes, for Jayne's eyepopping figure only! The rest of the film is pretty bad involving a silly plot taking place on cruise liner co-starring her then-husband Micky Hargitay and comedian Tommy Noonan. It has a few humorous moments scattered about here and there, but all just silly cornball stuff. The nude scenes are basically random clips edited in with not much relevance to the "plot" and are more or less dream sequences. We see Jayne coming out of the bathroom topless, then readying a bath with her beautiful bubbly boohind exposed (I still say her rear is every bit as eyecatching as her chest!), and her lounging naked in bed. It's been said that Jayne would get a little tipsy on champagne to get her nerve up for these scenes. Something of note, Jayne had by this time 4 kids! FOUR KIDS! And was still able to miraculously maintain a very flat tummy. But despite this with the high resolution DVD picture, you can see the stretch marks. But so what? She's still beautiful!
When released, the film was critically panned but that didn't stop filmgoers from paying the admission. It ended up making a good bit of money despite being banned in Cleveland. Why just there and not along with the Bible-Belt cities, I'll never know! Further publicity came about when Playboy released stills from the film in their July 1963 issue. Old Hef found himself being arrested and facing obscenity charges due to one photograph showing a fully clothed Tommy Noonan in bed with a naked Jayne. Hef was aquitted with a hung 7-5 jury.
The film laid dorment for many years until the Playboy Channel presented it uncut in 1984. A VHS release soon followed and went out of print and stayed that way for a long time with the exception of a cheap EP tape that surfaced briefly.
So now we can see Jayne naked on DVD courtesy of VCI Video. The picture quality is about as good as it gets for an old almost forgotten film. Very clear and well transfered. However, I despute the 1.85 aspect ratio on this and think it's just plane cropping. I've seen the full screen versions and you can see Jayne's panties in her topless scene where here you can't. I think the real ratio was more of a 1.33 to 1. The sound is in mono which is fine, I don't think too many people are going to complain over the lack of a 5.1 DTS surround mix!
The extras are ok, nothing elaborate. We get the original theatrical trailers and a gallery of the same stills from the Playboy issue awashed in some very annoying animated bubbles! There includes some never released lobby cards that are quite interesting.
All in all this is a great addition for Jayne completists. While as a film in general, it doesn't measure up to her classics like "The Girl Can't Help It" and "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" but it certainly made a mark like Jayne usually does.
DVD Review: "Wow!!!"
Summary: 4 Stars
Both the picture and sound is great. So are the 'extras'. Unfortunately, it is not 'close-captioned'. Definitely if you are a 'Jayne Mansfield' fan. Thank so much.
Description of Promises! Promises! (Amazon.com Exclusive)
Actors: Jayne Mansfield, Marie McDonald, Tommy Noonan, Mickey Hargitay, Fritz Feld. This sexy shipboard romp about two women who are pregnant but don't know which of the husbands is the father resulted in a headline-grabbing photo spread in Playboy Magazine. Comic Fritz Feld gives Tommy Noonan a pill to help him become a father . was this the original "blue pill?" DVD Bonus & Features: Actors Bios, Scene Selection Menu, Uncensored on the set Photo Shoot, Original Theatrical Trailers for both "hot" and "cold" versions: DVD-5, Dolby Digital, 75 minutes, B&W, 1.85:1, NR, 1963.General DVDs
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