Kisses for My President

"Kisses for My President" is a light comedy about the first woman president of the U. S. and her family entourage. That includes husband, teenage daughter and young son. This isn't so much a comedy about the office of the presidency, or a woman in the job, or of affairs of state. Rather, it's about the family in the midst of all of that, and especially what the spouse does and how he handles it

Well, Fred MacMurray and Polly Bergen do okay, as do their two children, Ahna Capri and Ronnie Dapo. Collectively here, they are the McClouds - President Leslie Harrison McCloud, hubby Thad, daughter Gloria and son Peter. But this isn't a very hearty comedy with lots of clever dialog, funny lines and antics. It has just smidgeons of those in a screenplay that might have been much better.

Some of the comedy centers around the feminine versus male trappings for the president's and first lady's settings. Also the office of the first lady in which Thad's two senior lady secretaries who go with the White House, are all to eager to have him continue in the traditions of the first ladies.

Eli Wallach adds some humor as a dictator of an unnamed Central American country. Especially when President Leslie asks First Husband to escort and show him around. Both President Leslie and First Husband Thad score nicely in taking down the blowhard opposition Senator Walsh. Edward Andrews played such parts better than anyone else throughout his career.

Leslie's former roommate and first date of Thad enters the picture. Doris Weaver (played by Arlene Dahl) is the divorced head of her own cosmetics firm. She ever so coyly works on Thad to lure him away from the President. But it doesn't work.

This is a minor comedy for all concerned, but it gives a little look at what it might be like for children moving into the White House. It all ends after a year or two when the President becomes pregnant, and she choose family over politics. Here are some of the best lines from this film.

Gloria McCloud, "Oh, father! As long as I'm going to be miserable, please put me in a private school for girls where I won't see what I'm missing." Thad McCloud, "Gloria, you mother and I decided that you should both continue going to public school. There'll be no special privileges just because you happen to be the president's children." Gloria, "Special privileges. I mean, am I supposed to give up my whole life for my country?"

Doris Weaver, "Do I detect a wounded male ego?" Thad McCloud, "Not wounded - deceased."

Doris Weaver, "Look, Thad, why don't you stop by the house, real soon, for cocktails and a... nice, long chat?" Thad, "Well, thanks, Doris. That, uh, that'll be fine." Doris, "Good." Walking away, "Oh, and, uh, bring the president if you like. Bye."

Leslie McCloud, "Darling, if you'll wait just one minute, I can get into something comfortable." Thad, "The time's a wasting, and I don't trust those two telephones."

That McCloud, "I wouldn't want this to get around, but I love you, madame President."

Raphael Valdez Jr., "Your gestapo drives very carelessly."

Thad McCloud, "Tell me, whatever happened to the President?" Leslie McCloud, "I left her downstairs." Thad, "I never had any luck with her anyway."

Peter McCloud, to school principal, "See how important I am. You better be careful what you say."

Thad McCloud, at Doris Weaver's party, after downing several shot glasses of a new drink to his taste (140-proof green Chartreuse), to the astonishment of the waiters, "I feel as though there were a civil war going on inside me, and both sides are losing."

Polly Bergen has just been elected President of the United States. That makes husband Fred MacMurray first lady. Even though he had his own business, he forgoes that to stay at home and becomes bored with the duties that are usually given to ladies in that position: planning the banquets, what's for supper, guiding the tours, etc. I was afraid this was going to be lame, not funny, and dated. But I was pleasantly surprised to find myself getting into it. It helps that Eli Wallach is given a larger-than-life character as a foreign diplomat asking for financial aid for his country that he misuses. It helps if you like Fred MacMurray. Arlene Dahl is an ex-suitor who still has a yen for Fred. She tries to coax him into bringing his reputation to her business, but he eventually backs out. Even the children have Secret Service following them throughout the day and that has its repercussions. Granted, it has its predictable humor about Fred as "a fish out of water." And, I agree with another reviewer that Rosalind Russell would have been a better choice than Polly Bergen, but, if you like the actors here, then you'll have a pleasant two hours with friends in some extraordinary conditions.

Of course by today's standards it's insulting to women but even for 1964, it lacks any courage to say something powerful even within the parameters of screen comedy. Perhaps had the studio hired women screen writers, it could've said something interesting. And the "first husband" being embarrassed to be so is ridiculous. Couldn't he just have been happy with his job and not insecure over his manhood? Polly Bergen shows some strength but of course she goes back to being a man's idea of what a woman should be. It offers no imagination nor significance. It's not only insulting to women, it's insulting to men.

Tracy-and-Hepburn-esque comedy has Polly Bergen as the newly elected chief executive, and Fred MacMurray as her bumbling, impatient, addled husband, who's resentful of having to assume the role of First Lady. That's a pretty thin premise, and the screenwriters don't do much with it. The main plot points have to do with the prez's strained foreign relations with a wily, randy South American dictator (a hammy Eli Wallach), her sparring with a resentful senator from the opposition (Edward Andrews), and MacMurray's will-he-won't-he flirtations with an old flame (Arlene Dahl) who wants him in her employ, and in her boudoir. Bergen's a quite convincing, attractive, authoritative president, while MacMurray's unable to wring any real laughs out of his annoying character, and both spend too much time trying to raise their two rambunctious kids while attending to affairs of state. But it is, at least, a professionally done Warners production, directed by the reliable old studio hand Curtis Bernhardt, not overlong, and if the fadeout resolution looks ridiculous by today's standards, it was probably rather appealing in 1964. Around the same time, Irving Berlin and Lindsay and Crouse attempted a similar normal-folks-in-the-White-House Broadway musical, "Mr. President," and they quickly ran out of ideas, too. There still may be a winning comedy in the premise, and now that we may have an actual woman president on the way, somebody might want to give it a try. But it will have to be cleverer than this.

Thad McCloud (Fred MacMurray) is leery of being the First Gentleman. His wife Leslie McCloud (Polly Bergen) has been elected President of the United States. More than anything, he doesn't want to be the First Lady. Beside her political rivals and communists, Leslie has to deal with Central American dictator Raphael Valdez Jr. (Eli Wallach), their kids, and Thad's ex Doris Reid Weaver (Arlene Dahl).

This is an one-joke movie. Basically, he is struggling against doing nothing and being First Lady. For a progressive subject matter, the humor here is old fashion. The writers have made the wife a man and the husband a woman. I can't stand that the husband is so needy which comes off as whiney. MacMurray struggles to play dumb. Let's start with the bedrooms. There's no rule that they can't switch rooms, but also they have separate bedrooms? It makes no sense especially they have a sex scene. It's the most PG of sex scenes, but it's there. Next, I cringed at the First Lady office section. He seems to have no agency of his own. They've made him into the awkwardness of being a wife, but it doesn't make sense. I am really frustrated with him. For this to be anything interesting, it falls on the pairing of Eli Wallach and Fred MacMurray. I couldn't get a hold of this odd couple. There should be a desperate need for Thad to ingratiate himself onto the dictator. That's where the fun could come from. That's the last potential for a good comedy. His ex is just another example of his cluelessness. Finally, there is the disappointing ending and the oldness is complete. I don't think the movie wants a woman President. There is a general dated awkwardness to this movie. If I remake this, I would turn the Thad Valdez combo into a fun road trip. The wife President would be desperately trying to find the runaway duo.