Promises! Promises! (1963)

Sandy Brooks (Jayne Mansfield) is on a six-month round-the-world cruise on a luxury liner with her husband, Jeff (Tommy Noonan), a successful television comedy writer whose life revolves almost exclusively around his profession.

Also on the ship are Sandy’s best friend, Claire Banner (Marie McDonald), and her husband, film star King (Mickey Hargitay, in a role that is too much for him despite its simplicity).

Sandy is unhappy because they are still childless after four years of marriage, so Jeff consults the ship’s doctor (Fritz Feld) about his “problem”.

As he relates his woes to the doctor, we see his buxom wife in flashback, in various states of undress.

The primary attraction of Promises! Promises! was clearly the chance to see Jayne Mansfield unadorned from the waist up in these shots, which are repeated several times.

The film was heavily publicised in the June 1963 issue of Playboy, featuring nude photos of Mansfield. The publication led to an obscenity charge against Hugh Hefner, but the subsequent trial ended with a hung jury and acquittal.

Promises! Promises! was banned in Chicago, Cleveland, and several other American cities, although a Cleveland court later ruled that the nude scenes were not obscene.

Marjorie Bennett appears as a rich dowager with a passion for young men. Vic Lundin plays her youthful “friend”.

Shipboard scenes were filmed on the SS Independence.

Sandy Brooks
Jayne Mansfield
Jeff Brooks
Tommy Noonan
Claire Banner
Marie McDonald
King Banner
Mickey Hargitay
Ship’s Doctor
Fritz Feld
Girl in Doctor’s Office
Eileen Barton
Steward
Claude Stroud
Bartender
Eddie Quillan
Mrs Snavely
Marjorie Bennett
Mrs Snavely’s Gigolo
Victor Lundin
Babbette (Ship’s Hairdresser)
T.C. Jones

Director
King Donovan