Cominciò con un bacio

It Started With A Kiss is the first of two successive films that George Marshall directed Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds in. The second was The Gazebo which I like much better. Not that this service comedy is without merit.

Ford plays an Air Force Sergeant on leave who both buys a raffle ticket from Debbie and then winds up marrying her. The prize is this $40,000.00 car which would now be worth about $200,000.00 in today's money value. When Ford goes back to Spain where he's stationed, Debbie follows him and the car follows Debbie.

Debbie's having a few second thoughts about her hasty marriage and has put the brakes on the sex part of her relationship with Ford, trying now to get to know the guy she's married to. Each of them gets some temptation thrown their way, him with Eva Gabor, her with bullfighter Gustavo Rojo.

But the biggest problem is that car. They can't drive it around as they are warned against ostentatious displays of American prosperity. Glenn finds he can't sell the thing and on top of that as the prize in a lottery, it's subject to taxation like quiz show earnings. What to do?

In Peter Ford's recent biography of his father, he says that this film with Debbie Reynolds and The Gazebo that came after was at a critical time for both. He was ending his marriage to Eleanor Powell and Debbie was the odd girl out in the Elizabeth Taylor-Eddie Fisher-Debbie Reynolds triangle that was front page for months. The two did a lot of commiserating on both sets.

Peter Ford also mentions that his father loved working with director George Marshall. I've done some reviews myself of their joint collaboration and have said they are an unfortunately unheralded actor/ director collaboration.

Fred Clark has a nice part as a most harried Air Force general who has to deal with Ford and Reynolds marital and motor problems as well as a visiting Congressional delegation. Long time Ford friend Edgar Buchanan does well as an acerbic Representative.

It Started With A Kiss is not as good some of the other Ford/Marshall collaborations, but it has a few good laughs and should satisfy fans of Glenn and Debbie.

I saw this film with my parents at a drive-in in 1959, and I was mesmerized by the fabulous Lincoln Futura, the best of the 1950s "dream cars".

As a devoted sci-fi fan, this car was the very essence of the "future". The Futura implied predictions of a future similar to those presented in movies like "Forbidden Planet". It was an example of the kind of superior technological design which I eagerly anticipated in the decades to come.

Predictions like this were why I loved to watch Disney shows like "Mars and Beyond", "Tomorrow the Moon", and "Magic Highway USA".

I'll admit, the main reason I watched this was for the car. As is mentioned in the Trivia Section, the car in question is a Lincoln dream car from the mid 1950's. Very rarely do these cars make appearances in the `real world', as most don't really function. They usually have no engine, or are made from some material that would be ruined if actually driven. These cars spend their life on a turntable at an auto show with fashion models in, or on them. After they serve their purpose, they get destroyed, or stored. Few, if any turn up in movies, as this Lincoln did, and then go on to TV stardom, as well! Ford later sold the car to custom car designer George Barris, and it became the basis for the Batmobile in the TV series "Batman". And if you were a kid like me at the time, IT was the star of the show. Sorry Batman and Robin!

This is what was best described as a `Bedroom Comedy'. Rock Hudson, and Doris Day made movies like this, with a light amount of `sexual tension' sewn into a light comedy movie. You never saw 'anything', it was left to the viewers imagination, what happened.

The film itself is decent enough. I like most anything that Glenn Ford did, and Debbie Reynolds turns in another good performance here. The supporting cast is peppered with plenty of folks who, like the car, went on to fame on TV, Eva Gabor, Harry Morgan, Edgar Buchanan, and of course, Francis Bavier.

The country side of Spain is beautiful, the acting is competent, so I'll give it a 6 out of 10.

Glenn Ford is 43 and has been a sergeant for approximately twenty-five years. What is wrong with him?

Again, young female talent is paired with much older male talent at MGM -- a pattern that is so often repeated that it is the norm.

This could have been something that stood out, but instead follows the MGM pattern circumspectly. Reynolds is good in her role; why not give her a young male star to play off? Instead, MGM gives her a daddy, just like in most all other musicals they produced.

This is a waste of Debbie Reynolds' talent, although she does sparkle when she is alone and can sing.

Half-price showgirl in New York, pining for a millionaire husband, marries lovestruck, underpaid Air Force sergeant on the eve of his departure for peacetime duty in Madrid; she follows, bringing misunderstandings, comic embarrassments and a "car from the future" with her. Sex-based shenanigans for stars Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds is pleasant enough, particularly for the first 45mns or so; after that, it deflates. Debbie, thinking she and Ford married for the wrong reason (sex), decides they should be platonic for a month--leaving Glenn to sleep on the sofa (after taking a cold shower). Movies based on misconceptions between characters have to be awfully smart to keep our interest (and keep us laughing), but this script by Charles Lederer, based on a Valentine Davies story, seems about 10 years out of touch. Ford thinks Debbie means she's pregnant when she writes that she has a big surprise, even though they've only been married for a month. When he meets her at the airport, she tells him the surprise could arrive the next day...and he STILL thinks she's talking about a baby! It's all in good fun, but these actors are much too smart to palmed off as dummies. ** from ****