Kisses for Breakfast

This risque farce in the screwball comedy vein delivers loads of laughs. Newlywed Dennis Morgan suffers a bout of amnesia on the verge of his honeymoon trip and winds up marrying a second wife while still unknowingly married to his first! The intrepid first wife eventually tracks him down, inserting herself into a manic menage a trois while persistently competing for her conjugal rights. Don't miss the glorious pillow fight erupting in a roomful of flying feathers as each wife surreptitiously tries to slip into bed with Dennis. And the fateful shower of oil when wife #1 switches the bathroom water pipe to the fuel line in the basement is a scream. Altogether a delightfully zany romp.

This is an "A" script with a "B" cast. Except for Jerome Cowan, Lee Patrick and Una O'Connor, the cast is not worthy of the material which is quite witty. I can imagine Jimmy Stewart, Rosiland Russell and Carole Lombard in the major parts. Then it would have been a classic.

This is an insanely implausible and stupid concoction about a guy marrying one woman, getting amnesia, then marrying her cousin. Dennis Morgan and Jane Wyatt, certainly serviceable performers, are at their worst here -- thanks mainly to the idiotic script and perversely inane dialogue. But the real showstoppers are Jerome Cowan and Shirley Ross, who manage to hambone their ways through this like it was dollar-ninety-eight night at the dinner theatre. Worse performances in a film from a major studio I don't recall ever seeing. The wonderful Willie Best and Louise Beavers are called upon to do some unfortunate (even for the time) racial comedy, and the ever-reliable Lee Patrick gets to be arch for no reason and to spout one of the more wince-causing racial jokes. This one's a waste of time, unless it's to catch Cornel Wilde in a brief and very early appearance as a sort of heavy. Embarrassing on almost all counts.

That dreadful casting error is only one of many. Cowan was a good character actor and perfectly adequate as a lead in mysteries. But his comic timing, at least based on this horrible mess, did not exist. He also looks terrible, with a very noticeable double chin.

Shirley Ross is exceptionally unappealing as the first of two women Dennis Morgan marries. She overacts and is generally thoroughly disagreeable.

Morgan is shown in a lot of beefcake shots. And he was a handsome man. He's fine here, though I personally could do without his singing.

Jane Wyaatt is pretty and sweet as Ross's Southern cousin, whom he marries while he has amnesia.

One of the few amusing bits is a bum's looking at a billboard and giving Morgan, who has no memory of who he is, the name F.H.A. Homes. (He is later called Happy.) One of the very least appealing is the shower that first makes Wyatt and Morgan, later Ross, appear in blackface.

Dennis Morgan, Jane Wyatt, Shirley Ross, and Lee Patrick star in "Kisses for Breakfast" based on a play and produced in 1941.

Morgan, a likable actor, plays Rodney Trask, a handsome crooner who marries Juliet (Shirley Ross). Juliet wanted her cousin Laura (Jane Wyatt) to come up from the south, but cousin Laura begs off due to illness. Juliet decides that en route to their Havana honeymoon they will visit her, so Rodney takes down her address.

They are preparing to leave when Rodney's old girlfriend Clara shows up. She seems to think she can get $10,000 from Rodney. To keep their meeting private, they go for a drive. Clara has a partner, who knocks Rodney out and trashes his car.

Rodney wakes up with amnesia. Everyone believes him to be dead. The only thing Rodney has on him is Laura's address. After a hobo gives him the name "Happy Homes" from a billboard, Rodney heads for Laura's.

Laura and Rodney fall in love, and he is able to help bring her plantation back to its former glory. They marry, and Laura receives an invitation to Juliet's wedding to Lucius (Jerome Cowan). Laura and Rodney decide to attend.

Crazy comedy that would have been funnier with just the right cast. As someone pointed out, Jerome Cowan is miscast, and Shirley Ross is too overdone. Lee Patrick as Juliet's friend is hilarious. Morgan is just fine, as is Wyatt.

But this thing needed a boost, which a few tweaks in the casting would have given it. William Powell, Jean Arthur, Cary Grant, Claudette Colbert, actors more adept at comedy could have helped this along.

Since it's 1941, there are also racial stereotypes and racial humor. I for one think these are a reminder of where we once were - I'm not a fan of rewriting history.

Una O'Connor plays a maid, and she's a riot. This is a true madcap comedy that needed more madcap actors.